A fire at 164 Eustace Street in North Stafford last week burned for hours, well after fire crews brought the blaze under control.
Five dogs died in the blaze Wednesday afternoon. Luckily, the two homeowners were not home when the fire broke out.
Officials say there was a lot of contents inside the home, and that those contents added fuel to the fire. Remnants of the fire smoldered for hours forcing crews to remain on the scene after sunset.
Having items piled up inside of a home over a course of time can be dangerous, and can lead to a condition known as hoarding.
Hoarders, as they’re known, can keep old clothes, newspapers, containers, books and craft items because they are afraid of losing important information or have certain emotional attachments to items, according to the International OCD Foundation.
Hoarding can stem from a bout with depression, according to the foundation.
In 2009, three undergraduate students from Worchester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts studied the affect fire has on those who live in a hoarding household.
One of the first studies of its kind, focused on 48 fires that involved hoarders in Melbourne, Australia.
The more items in the house meant the more fuel for the fire. Cluttered walkways made it difficult for fire and rescue crews to reach potential victims and to battle the blaze, the study found.
Ten people became victims of house fires during their study, and all of them were hoarders.
The study concluded that cooking fires, not hoarding, was to blame for the fires, though hoarding made the fires more difficult to fight.
