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The danger of San Diego's hoarders
The $1 million Flash Comics #1
“I’ve been begging my parents for years to clear the house of all of the crap.”
In the early hours of October 13, a quiet neighborhood along Marline Avenue in El Cajon was jolted awake by fire trucks and first responders. 911 Video News was among the first on the scene, reporting that the blaze was partially sparked by a power outage related to nearby construction on 2nd Avenue. Without power, a resident — a man who remains unidentified — lit candles in his room for light. Leaving briefly to cook a steak outside, he soon realized the candles had ignited a fire in his absence.
“He attempted to go back in, but the fire kept him out," reported 911 Video News. "He was able to alert the rest of the family, and they managed to get out.” Frustrated, the man remarked, “I’ve been begging my parents for years to clear the house of all of the crap.”
The fire quickly spread through the blue-and-white-colored home, with dense clutter making it difficult for firefighters to gain access, read the report. Rooms packed with belongings intensified the blaze and added danger. After nearly an hour, the fire was extinguished, and no injuries were reported.
According to the A&E show Hoarders, up to 19 million Americans suffer from hoarding disorders. The El Cajon incident is the latest in a series of fires tied to hoarding in the region.
On June 25, CBS 8 News reported another hoarding-related fire at a two-story Ocean View Hills home in south San Diego. Firefighters rescued a resident, Lisa Golden, and her dog from the second floor with a telescopic ladder. A nearby resident, Eddie Mead, described rats coming from her home into his property line and her property being a health hazard: "Toxic waste is the best way to put it. And that is the smell that we receive freely from her. That house is piled high with boxes. So some rooms are like three to four feet deep that you really cannot even enter."
The cause of that fire remains unreported, but the U.S. Fire Administration notes that hoarded belongings near cooking and heating equipment pose a significant fire risk.
Countertops buried under dirty dishes, used utensils, and containers.
In March, CBS 8 News aired images of Golden’s kitchen, taken by the city of San Diego, showing countertops buried under dirty dishes, used utensils, and containers, while a blackened wall stood behind. City inspector Justin Welker described unsanitary conditions in other parts of the home, noting, “The master toilet — It was smeared with brown filth, and the stall floor covered in trash, including approximately a dozen used toilet paper rolls and a pile of what appeared to be crumpled up, used toilet paper. In the bathroom and master bedroom, the smell of rotting food and mold was again present."
Just a week before the Ocean View Hills fire, firefighters extinguished a blaze at another hoarder's home on Menlo Avenue in City Heights. 911 Video News captured the scene, reporting neighbors had long complained of rats, foul odors, and flies originating from the property. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
In January, NBC 7 San Diego reported on a hoarder home in Clairemont where the owner continued living amid heaps of clutter without water, gas, or electricity despite a previous fire. On January 12, a judge granted receivership, allowing a third-party investigator to intervene and either force cleanup or initiate demolition.
“We posted a notice at this property in January (2023), urging the property owner to fix the conditions," said deputy city attorney Isabelle Ignacio. "However, none of those issues were resolved by the owner. He did not address any of those issues. This led to the receivership being filed by our office."
Neighbors stated that hoarding began at the Clairemont home in 2020 and progressively worsened, contributing to hazardous living conditions and, ultimately, city intervention.
Among their discoveries was an Amazing Fantasy #15 comic, known for Spider-Man’s debut,
Another tragedy tied to hoarding goes beyond the fires themselves—the hoarders can perish, sometimes in these fires or by other causes, leaving their homes and all their belongings behind to be sold. One such case involved Rene Nezhoda, a former Poway thrift store owner, who made what’s now considered the most significant find in local comics trading history when he purchased the collection of a deceased hoarder from the Los Angeles area.
“The house was an extreme case of hoarding,” Nezhoda told me in a 2017 interview for the Reader. “Imagine a house packed as much as possible. Right up front, I saw about 5,000 DVDs, thick Marvel books, and display cases packed with collectibles.”
Nezhoda shared video clips showing the staggering contents of the home, including a room so cluttered that a full-size arcade machine was nearly buried, with only the glass marquee of the original Tron game visible. “[The owner] slept in a small seven-by-three-foot space while the rest of the house looked like this,” Nezhoda said.
Nezhoda and his wife, Casey, are familiar with sorting through hoarder homes and storage lockers, having been star buyers on the A&E network’s Storage Wars. They uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in comic books, toys, and collectible cards in that particular house.
Among their discoveries was an Amazing Fantasy #15 comic, known for Spider-Man’s debut, in which a different copy set the record in 2021 as the most expensive comic book ever sold ($3.6 million). Another valuable find was a Flash Comics #1. The highest recorded sale for a copy of Flash Comics #1 reached $1 million, underscoring the immense worth hidden within the clutter of this hoarder's home.
Here's something you might be interested in.
The danger of San Diego's hoarders
The $1 million Flash Comics #1
The danger of San Diego's hoarders
The $1 million Flash Comics #1
“I’ve been begging my parents for years to clear the house of all of the crap.”
In the early hours of October 13, a quiet neighborhood along Marline Avenue in El Cajon was jolted awake by fire trucks and first responders. 911 Video News was among the first on the scene, reporting that the blaze was partially sparked by a power outage related to nearby construction on 2nd Avenue. Without power, a resident — a man who remains unidentified — lit candles in his room for light. Leaving briefly to cook a steak outside, he soon realized the candles had ignited a fire in his absence.
“He attempted to go back in, but the fire kept him out," reported 911 Video News. "He was able to alert the rest of the family, and they managed to get out.” Frustrated, the man remarked, “I’ve been begging my parents for years to clear the house of all of the crap.”
The fire quickly spread through the blue-and-white-colored home, with dense clutter making it difficult for firefighters to gain access, read the report. Rooms packed with belongings intensified the blaze and added danger. After nearly an hour, the fire was extinguished, and no injuries were reported.
According to the A&E show Hoarders, up to 19 million Americans suffer from hoarding disorders. The El Cajon incident is the latest in a series of fires tied to hoarding in the region.
On June 25, CBS 8 News reported another hoarding-related fire at a two-story Ocean View Hills home in south San Diego. Firefighters rescued a resident, Lisa Golden, and her dog from the second floor with a telescopic ladder. A nearby resident, Eddie Mead, described rats coming from her home into his property line and her property being a health hazard: "Toxic waste is the best way to put it. And that is the smell that we receive freely from her. That house is piled high with boxes. So some rooms are like three to four feet deep that you really cannot even enter."
The cause of that fire remains unreported, but the U.S. Fire Administration notes that hoarded belongings near cooking and heating equipment pose a significant fire risk.
Countertops buried under dirty dishes, used utensils, and containers.
In March, CBS 8 News aired images of Golden’s kitchen, taken by the city of San Diego, showing countertops buried under dirty dishes, used utensils, and containers, while a blackened wall stood behind. City inspector Justin Welker described unsanitary conditions in other parts of the home, noting, “The master toilet — It was smeared with brown filth, and the stall floor covered in trash, including approximately a dozen used toilet paper rolls and a pile of what appeared to be crumpled up, used toilet paper. In the bathroom and master bedroom, the smell of rotting food and mold was again present."
Just a week before the Ocean View Hills fire, firefighters extinguished a blaze at another hoarder's home on Menlo Avenue in City Heights. 911 Video News captured the scene, reporting neighbors had long complained of rats, foul odors, and flies originating from the property. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
In January, NBC 7 San Diego reported on a hoarder home in Clairemont where the owner continued living amid heaps of clutter without water, gas, or electricity despite a previous fire. On January 12, a judge granted receivership, allowing a third-party investigator to intervene and either force cleanup or initiate demolition.
“We posted a notice at this property in January (2023), urging the property owner to fix the conditions," said deputy city attorney Isabelle Ignacio. "However, none of those issues were resolved by the owner. He did not address any of those issues. This led to the receivership being filed by our office."
Neighbors stated that hoarding began at the Clairemont home in 2020 and progressively worsened, contributing to hazardous living conditions and, ultimately, city intervention.
Among their discoveries was an Amazing Fantasy #15 comic, known for Spider-Man’s debut,
Another tragedy tied to hoarding goes beyond the fires themselves—the hoarders can perish, sometimes in these fires or by other causes, leaving their homes and all their belongings behind to be sold. One such case involved Rene Nezhoda, a former Poway thrift store owner, who made what’s now considered the most significant find in local comics trading history when he purchased the collection of a deceased hoarder from the Los Angeles area.
“The house was an extreme case of hoarding,” Nezhoda told me in a 2017 interview for the Reader. “Imagine a house packed as much as possible. Right up front, I saw about 5,000 DVDs, thick Marvel books, and display cases packed with collectibles.”
Nezhoda shared video clips showing the staggering contents of the home, including a room so cluttered that a full-size arcade machine was nearly buried, with only the glass marquee of the original Tron game visible. “[The owner] slept in a small seven-by-three-foot space while the rest of the house looked like this,” Nezhoda said.
Nezhoda and his wife, Casey, are familiar with sorting through hoarder homes and storage lockers, having been star buyers on the A&E network’s Storage Wars. They uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in comic books, toys, and collectible cards in that particular house.
Among their discoveries was an Amazing Fantasy #15 comic, known for Spider-Man’s debut, in which a different copy set the record in 2021 as the most expensive comic book ever sold ($3.6 million). Another valuable find was a Flash Comics #1. The highest recorded sale for a copy of Flash Comics #1 reached $1 million, underscoring the immense worth hidden within the clutter of this hoarder's home.