After Fire, Harrisburg, PA, Chief Sounds Alarm on Illegal Boarding Houses
Harrisburg Fire Chief Brian Enterline is sounding the alarm on illegal boarding houses following a fire this past weekend.
"There's no one particular area of the city that we can say isn't affected by boarding houses," he told WGAL, adding that firefighters encounter them on a weekly basis.
They easily fly under the radar for many reasons and often stay undiscovered until there's an emergency.
That was the case Sunday night, when firefighters who responded to a row house fire on South 14th Street and found at least 15 people living inside a modified building with makeshift walls, extra padlocks and blocked exits.
"The house wasn't designed for that. So, that puts a strain on all the systems. There's not enough personnel to go around, number one, to weed them all out. And number two to continuously follow up time and time again on those same properties, unfortunately."
Although the home is condemned, the chief was quick to add that it doesn't always fix the problem. Under Pennsylvania law, condemnations don't stay with the property, so a new owner can buy the house and continue boarding operations.
