This is the bathroom in the living quarters in question. The clothes are hanging from the shower curtain and entrance to the bathroom was barely possible. The rest of the rooms in the dwelling were equally cluttered. If a fire were to start in this space the spread would be rapid and the fire extremely intense, possibly overrunning the fire suppression systems in the unit. Spread to the other senior living units would be a likely outcome and the potential for life loss would be heightened.
Over the past few months our Fire Marshal Allen Nelson has been working on a situation at a Senior housing development where a resident had accumulated an unsafe amount of “stuff”. Along with the Fire Marshal the Police Department and Hennepin County Adult protection have been working with the resident to get the situation cleaned up.
Today the three agencies went to the apartment to clean up the mess and make the living quarters safe and livable. This is a ough situation for all involved. The resident was not immediately receptive, but resolved that this was necessary to keep him in his house.
We get a few of these every year in Eden Prairie. This situation was not the filthy mess that we most often encounter, but due to the volume of stuff involved it was not safe.
The Fire Department gets involved in a lot of activities that do not involve just fighting fires, but are just as important to the public’s safety.
