Haz-Mat crew has to clean shit from apartment...

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2004-04-16 01:36am

Why do people do this shit? (no pun intended)

Haz-Mat crew cleans up filthy apartment
By KRISTIN BOYD

Staff Writer

Authorities don't know when two residents stopped using the broken toilet in their northside apartment and started using the floor.

But by the time the situation was discovered yesterday morning, so much human waste, rotting garbage and dirty needles had accumulated that the apartment was declared a biohazard and condemned.

Fire Commissioner Barry Fisher said a woman and a man rented the second-story apartment at 1017 Lehman St. and for some time had been using the floor as a toilet and garbage can.

"There is human waste -- urine and feces -- on the floor, and needles on the floor," Fisher said yesterday at the scene. "She seems to be a diabetic, and she was re-using needles, so there is blood as well."

Fisher did not release the residents' names but said the woman was in her early 40s. She was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment of diabetes and a mental-health evalutation, he said.

City building inspectors received a complaint about the apartment yesterday morning and went there to investigate. They found an accumulation of human waste nearly 2 feet deep in the apartment's bathroom, he said. Human waste was also found in the living room and bedroom, he said.

After seeing the apartment's squalid condition, inspectors declared it a biohazard and called in the county's Haz-Mat team to help with the cleanup.

With a chilling wind blowing, the four-member team changed into crinkly, yellow jumpsuits -- similar to those chemists wear -- in a small lot across from the apartment.

They slid on orange, rubber boots and neon-green gloves. They also put on a pair of black gloves. Blue duct tape was then wrapped around their

wrists and shins to keep waste and bacteria from touching their skin.

The crew members then covered their faces with plastic shields and strapped on air packs before entering the home.

A city worker lugged two rubber hoses to the second floor, looping them through the building's fire-escape ladder. The hoses were pushed through one of the apartment's front windows and used to collect the excrement.

"They'll pick up the needles first, then vacuum the waste as much as possible," Fisher said as crews began cleaning. "Then they'll pick up the garbage, but they have to be careful because there could be more needles in there."

Crews spent six hours at the site yesterday, Fisher said. They were continuing the clean-up today, but it's unclear how long the apartment will be condomned, he said.

"Whenever it's cleaned up, they could go back in, but it could be years," he said.

Other tenants in the three-story brick building weren't evacuated, he said.

The property is owned by James Ruffner, a city funeral home director, and the estate of the late Michael R. Fortna.

Apparently the building is for sale: A Reich Realty sign is attached to the wooden porch.

Crews blocked off the scene with yellow tape and shut down Lehman Street between 10th and 11th streets.

Crews from Lebanon County Emergency Services, Lebanon police and Goodwill Fire Co. assisted.

Now, if only there were pictures of the place...

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-04-16 01:43am

*throws up*

*on the floor*

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-04-16 01:45am

When we stop exercising, the downward spiril sets in, high bloodsugar and very bad habits tend to encourage slothy behaviour unfortunatly...

not suprised, no I have never yet gotten to that point, I have discovered that when you have high blood sugar and are sick, you get the runs really easy. But even with the worst sickness of my bronchial infection last year, I still cleaned up the carpet, though I did at one point maintain a vomit bucket....

AnimeJet · Post by **AnimeJet** » 2004-04-16 01:49am

Thats kinda funny, yet sickening at the same time.

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2004-04-16 10:45am

YE GODS
That apartment must smell like an open sewer.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-04-16 10:47am

Hey, this happens all the time in my residence hall, where the stairwell is routinely used as a shitter for a reason unbeknownst to me.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2004-04-16 10:52am

AnimeJet wrote:Thats kinda funny, yet sickening at the same time.

I'd say it's funny because you wouldn't think something like this would be severe enough to send a Hazmat crew in, but it was.

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2004-04-16 10:56am

Joe wrote:Hey, this happens all the time in my residence hall, where the stairwell is routinely used as a shitter for a reason unbeknownst to me.

KrauserKrauser · Post by **KrauserKrauser** » 2004-04-16 11:01am

I would so hate to be their downstairs neighbor.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-04-16 11:28am

Christ. No WAY anyone's going to buy the building, now.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-04-16 11:33am

i'm amazed it wasn't discovered earlier. the stench must have been noticeable a floor or two away.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-04-16 11:41am

Joe wrote:Hey, this happens all the time in my residence hall, where the stairwell is routinely used as a shitter for a reason unbeknownst to me.

People routinely shit on the stairs in your dorm?

I've seen and can understand the occasional piss, but 'dropping the kids off at the pool'? yuck!

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2004-04-16 11:44am

If I own the building I would sue then torch the building noo way I could ever walk back into the place even after it was cleaned up from something that hidous

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-04-16 12:16pm

Joe wrote:Hey, this happens all the time in my residence hall, where the stairwell is routinely used as a shitter for a reason unbeknownst to me.

WTF?!

I've NEVER seen ANYTHING like that. The occasional piss in the parking lot, but taking a dump inside your dorm? Ugh!

I'd try to stake out the place and find out who it is doing it, then call the campus police on the immature little bastards.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-04-16 12:20pm

Nathan F wrote:
Joe wrote:Hey, this happens all the time in my residence hall, where the stairwell is routinely used as a shitter for a reason unbeknownst to me.
WTF?!

I've NEVER seen ANYTHING like that. The occasional piss in the parking lot, but taking a dump inside your dorm? Ugh!

I'd try to stake out the place and find out who it is doing it, then call the campus police on the immature little bastards.

back when i was working for Ross, i'd hear horror stories about guys taking a shit in the fucking elevator. and right outside the window really early in the morning. Not to mention the state of the bathrooms. So it's not entirely unbelievable, but ugh.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-04-16 12:43pm

reminder

Trainspotting

end reminder...

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2004-04-16 12:44pm

Fucking A...some form of cleansing flame to the apartment

And I can see it happen by some truly slothful person, but damn that's sickening.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-04-16 12:46pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:reminder

Trainspotting

end reminder...

Colin, all that little remider suceeded in doing was to implant in my head the mental image of you swimming down the toilet in search of a suppository. blecchhh!

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-04-16 12:53pm

I was thinking more of the "Cold Turkey" Room, boarded up, a bed to burn lots of instant food, and three garbage pails water tight, one each for vomitus, urine, and fecal matter,,,,,

Korvan · Post by **Korvan** » 2004-04-16 01:23pm

Joe wrote:Hey, this happens all the time in my residence hall, where the stairwell is routinely used as a shitter for a reason unbeknownst to me.

The worst is when it happens on a friday night before a monday holiday, 'cause it ain't getting cleaned up till Tuesday.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2004-04-16 01:35pm

Darth_Zod wrote:back when i was working for Ross, i'd hear horror stories about guys taking a shit in the fucking elevator. and right outside the window really early in the morning. Not to mention the state of the bathrooms. So it's not entirely unbelievable, but ugh.

As I remember it, Ozzy Osbourne took a crap in an elevator back in the day. I can't remember where I read that but I do remember laughing my ass off.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-04-16 01:37pm

This really is a fire cleansing sort of job. 20,000 gallons of aviation gasoline and wrecking balls protected by water sprays ought to have gotten the job done pretty well.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2004-04-16 04:51pm

no, you don't burn it. Burning shit just smells even worse....

Nothing short of a tactical nuclear warhead would be good enough to get rid of that stench...

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-04-16 06:24pm

No Microwaves or martian heatbeams, the radiation will sterize the bacteria, and then the combustion of the fixated nitrogen in the feces, should be sufficiant to completly incinerate everything......

of course the whole block will have to be evacuated first.... (can we say okalahoma?)

Jawawithagun · Post by **Jawawithagun** » 2004-04-16 06:25pm

Vertigo1 wrote:no, you don't burn it. Burning shit just smells even worse....

Nothing short of a tactical nuclear warhead would be good enough to get rid of that stench...

Yeah! Just blow that shit all over the stratosphere!

As if it weren't distributed widely enough yet!