Woman dies in NW apartment fire
A District woman was killed by a fire in her apartment Sunday night shortly before 11 p.m., officials said.
Firefighters had difficulty entering the second-floor apartment in the 1700 block of S Street NW because of an "extreme clutter hoarding situation," said Pete Piringer, spokesman for D.C. Fire/EMS.
The woman was removed from her apartment and pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Piringer said the fire was started accidentally because of improperly extinguished smoking material.
The damage was estimated at $50,000.
By
Allison Klein
| December 27, 2010; 9:04 AM ET
Categories:
Allison Klein, Fires & Fire Safety, The District
Save & Share:
Previous: Oddball Chicago-area crimes in 2010
Next: Anne Arundel woman dies in crash
this woman was obviously mentally ill and disconnected from the world, so i have to ask,
will anyone miss her?
i'm glad the fire caused by her extreme negligence didn't endanger anyone else in the building or fighting the fire.
Posted by: potomacfever00 | December 27, 2010 11:06 AM | Report abuse
this woman was obviously mentally ill and disconnected from the world, so i have to ask,
will anyone miss her?
i'm glad the fire caused by her extreme negligence didn't endanger anyone else in the building or fighting the fire.
Posted by: potomacfever00 | December 27, 2010 11:06 AM
---------------------------
Are you serious? How can you make a comment like that after someone was killed? Regardless of the circumstance of how the fire was started you have a human being that was killed.
Posted by: PublicEnemy1 | December 27, 2010 11:46 AM | Report abuse
Any update on who this woman is?
And I don't know why being a hoarder equals nobody will miss you.
Posted by: rosebudpeas | December 27, 2010 11:47 AM | Report abuse
This is tragic.
Wow, potomacfever00, are you that cold and sheltered that you would think it obvious that a hoarder who died in a fire had no one in her life who loved or cared about her? I used to work with seniors, and I'd say most are hoarders. And most have family and friends who can do nothing about it. I'm sure none of those seniors ever thought they'd be living in a cluttered, squallored home either. This could be you one day.
Posted by: brandip_77 | December 27, 2010 2:38 PM | Report abuse
My aunt is a hoarder and has been nearly all of her life - 77 years. I would miss her dearly if she was lost to our family. We all would. So, yes to "Potomacfever00", I bet someone will miss this lady! Just because she hoarded crap and put herself and others in her building in danger doesn't mean she was incapable of giving and receiving love.
Posted by: Ross65 | December 27, 2010 3:03 PM | Report abuse
My mother and her mother (deceased) both are/were hoarders. Grandmother suffered Alzheimer disease but my mother hasn't shown any symptoms of that. I'd agree that both have/had some form of mental illness, but I'll disagree that they are/were disconnected from the world. Hoarding doesn't mean that you become a hermit and cutoff contact with everyone.
Posted by: jim_maryland | December 27, 2010 4:09 PM | Report abuse
I can't speak to the specifics of this sad incident, but DC housing laws and attitudes brought on by decades of DC officials demonizing landlords has made it very difficult for landlords to force tenants to at least maintain a reasonably safe apartment free of easily combustible items, to not use candles and space heaters, etc.
I've heard horror stories of landlords literally begging tenants to not live like this, only to find that in DC you can't evict tenants for this dangerous behavior. In fact, you really can't even get the behavior stopped in any meaningful way.
Welcome to yet another side effect of DC government....
Posted by: TheHillman | December 27, 2010 5:42 PM | Report abuse
Realize that there are people on each and every bulletin board who are there merely to incite you. It's how they get their jollies. Know that, and ignore them.
Yes, hoarding is ugly and dangerous. Yes, it is symptomatic of a mental disorder. Yes, her death is tragic and she will no doubt be missed. May she rest in peace and may others who need (competent) help, receive it.
Posted by: spazmazilla | December 27, 2010 6:22 PM | Report abuse
this woman was obviously mentally ill and disconnected from the world, so i have to ask,
will anyone miss her?
i'm glad the fire caused by her extreme negligence didn't endanger anyone else in the building or fighting the fire.
Posted by: potomacfever00
It's easy to tell who is mentally ill potomacfever00, very easy, get help, asap
Posted by: citigreg | December 27, 2010 9:23 PM | Report abuse
We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.