Reported house explosion was just a messy front lawn

Reported house explosion was just a messy front lawn

May 16, 2014 7:49 PM


Well, maybe it could be called an explosion, but there were no explosives involved. It seems that a hoarder’s stuff “exploded” out of his house and onto the front lawn in such a way that a passerby thought the house had literally blown up.

Firefighters, police and emergency medical responders in Calvary, Canada, responded Tuesday to a call about a house explosion at around 4:30 p.m. On arrival, however, they determined that the house in question was already known to them as one with an excessively messy lawn.

It seems that a passing motorist, who was not familiar with the situation in that neighborhood, saw the house and, given the look of the front lawn, assumed that it must have exploded, scattering debris all over the lawn. Firefighters decided to be on the safe side and checked the house for anyone trapped inside. It was so bad they had to wear hazmat masks while checking the debris.

Paul Leblank of the Calvary Fire Department described the incident as “a non-event,” saying that “This is a house that is normally like this, and has been looked at by bylaw [officers] a few times. Basically it’s a person who has a messy front yard.”

Though the owner, who is reportedly a hoarder, was at work, fire crews planned to cleanup up the mess and bill him for their trouble. He will also likely face a fine.

I guess his parents never taught or told him to clean his room growing up.