Collyer's Mansion Conditions

There's an absolutely excellent article to be found in the Firehouse.com news. I would highly suggest reading the whole artice, it's mind-boggling in a way.

http://www.firehouse.com/news/news/collyers-mansion-conditions

The common translation of firefighter lingo to plain english for Collyer's Mansion Conditions is "firefighter's nightmare."


The basic jist of the story is the Collyer brothers lived in a large mansion in Harlem. One brother lost his vision and the other took care of him. They were recluse, and the sighted brother was very suspicious of the outside world, though he would venture out at night for supplies. He became a hermit and a hoarder. He eventually died when he accidently triggered one of his own booby traps. His blind brother died a few days later of starvation, dehydration, and other ailments.

This is a partial list of the valuables removed from the Collyer home, they include:
136 tons of debris
14 Grand pianos
2 organs
1 clavichord
Human medicine specimens (in glass jars)
Model-T Ford chassis
Approx 15,00 medical and engineering books
Weapons
6 US flags
1 Union jack
1 x-ray machine
34 bank deposit books: balance $3007.18
Baby carriages
Plaster statues and chandeliers
Gardner baskets and picture frames
Old Christmas trees and press makers dummies
Bundles of sheet music
Newspapers: Langley collected every newspaper published in New York City since the years 1918. He did this in the hope that Homer would someday regain his sight. Langley once stated that he did that "so when Homer regains his sight he can catch up on the news".


The irony of this is that a few weeks ago my Captain was asking us about Collyer's Mansion Conditions. Nobody knew what it was, but google helped fix that problem, and I educated myself. It was entertaining to a degree to have just learned about this, then experience it firsthand.

I'll be making a seperate post later on about the actual call, I need to walk away from the keyboard for a while and find some food.