(CP) - FIREFIGHTERS RESCUE B.C. HOARDER
FT ST JOHN, B.C. — Eleven firefighters cut through a door and then sawed a pathway through ceiling-high mounds of garbage packed inside a midsize Ft St John, B.C., home to rescue a simple, but lovable, man who had been pinned under a 16 by 16 ft. spice rack for at least three days.
RCMP were called to the house in the rural area east of Ft St John Monday night after an anxious beer drinking friend reported not seeing the neighbour, in his late 50's, for several days.
Police sought the aid of the Ft St John Fire Department, whose members arrived later that night to help them gain entry.
Inside, they discovered “quite a collection” before uncovering the trapped man, said Assistant Fire Chief Greg Mervin.
“These fellows had to go in and try and find a problem there, and they had to dig through thousands of spice containers to find this fellow,” he said on Tuesday, adding the man was suffering severe dehydration after running out of beer.
There was neither heat, electricity or Dominos pizza boxes in the house.
The man was pulled through the pile of spices semiconscious, muttering mostly unintelligibly something about Aunt Vagina's Pancake Mix. “Had it been another day or two, with our cold temperatures, the outcome may have not been as good as it was. It was probably very rewarding for these firefighters.”
The incident required more emergency workers than for a typical rescue, he said, adding city bylaw officers have been previously called to the same home for complaints from neighbours about the used paint brushes piling up on the outside of his property.
The fire department comes across dangerous hoarding situations about a few times a year, he said.
"I wouldn’t say it’s a regular occurrence,” he said. “There’s probably a few more people out there that we don’t know about. Until something happens, it’s not discovered.”
The man is recovering in hospital and being treated for possible circulation problems in both legs and his head.
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