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Examining the Role of Fire Prevention on Hoarding Response Teams: Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services as a Case Study

Fire Technology volume 54, pages 57–73 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Hoarded homes present a significant threat to the safety of occupants of the home and adjacent homes as well as emergency responders. Extreme accumulation of combustible materials raises the fuel load and prevents egress. Despite having regulatory tools related to fire prevention, fire departments generally lack the necessary background to address the many challenges related to the complex mental health problem of hoarding. Using Vancouver as a case study, this paper highlights the role of Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services in the City’s coordinated hoarding response and outlines their fire code inspections protocol developed for use in hoarding cases. On the basis of fire inspection reports, we compare the processes and outcomes of complaint-driven hoarding inspections with standard annual fire inspections of restaurants. Hoarding cases take longer to resolve and are more challenging, but inspectors achieved satisfactory status in 94% of cases without prosecution. About 20% of hoarding complaints do not involve fire code violations. Although this approach requires an investment and engagement with other community agencies, it represents a useful model for other jurisdictions.

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Notes

  1. The team continues to operate at the time of this writing, but it has evolved over time. Because we are presenting data gathered during a discrete time period, this paper describes the structure and processes of the team at that time.

  2. Due to the positive skew of case duration data, analyses were also conducted using log-transformed data. Because results were similar, raw data analyses are reported.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The authors are grateful for the contributions of Captain Doug Booth and other members of the Fire Prevention Branch of Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services. Thank you to Dr. Beth Weckman for providing useful feedback to a previous version of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Navio Kwok

  2. School of Social Work, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA

    Christiana Bratiotis

  3. Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    May Luu, Kate Kysow & Sheila R. Woody

  4. Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Nathanael Lauster

Authors
  1. Navio Kwok
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  2. Christiana Bratiotis
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  3. May Luu
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  4. Nathanael Lauster
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  5. Kate Kysow
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  6. Sheila R. Woody
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sheila R. Woody.

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Kwok, N., Bratiotis, C., Luu, M. et al. Examining the Role of Fire Prevention on Hoarding Response Teams: Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services as a Case Study. Fire Technol 54, 57–73 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-017-0672-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-017-0672-0

Keywords

  • Hoarding
  • Fire prevention
  • Hoarding response team
  • Multi-disciplinary