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Well, here I am to ask for advice or suggestions. We have a neighborhood at the beach that's small and as far as I can tell, fairly friendly. One woman (I'll call her Alice but that's not her name) had a house there and we all knew she was having some problems, possibly hoarding, but we thought it was none of our business. About a month ago the house caught on fire. Alice ran out, but didn't call the fire department--a neighbor did that. No one was hurt, fortunately, not even her animals, but the house was pretty much destroyed. Alice lived with a neighbor for a while but became so difficult to deal with that the neighbor had to ask her to leave (I don't know the details of the difficulty, but do know that Alice has seemed very paranoid in past dealings). Alice has a trust fund and the house was well-insured, so money is not a problem, but instead of moving somewhere else, renting a temporary place, getting the house torn down and starting new construction, or any of the other things that she could do, she's starting living on the property in a sort of lean-to/tent, and has several times had fires going in the yard to dispose of the half-burnt furniture, etc. The houses down there are close together and the fire department is a long way off, and it's been a dry spring, so this is something that does concern us all. And beyond that, we're worried about her, living without plumbing, without good camping equipment, and in this sad situation.
Neighbors have called the sheriff's deputy and the fire department. The fire department has told her she can't burn things, but otherwise both say that there's nothing they can do about her living on her own land as she wants and that we should contact the family. We contacted family members, but they say they haven't been able to reason with her about anything, and that they hope that we, the neighborhood, will be able to get the authorities to do something about her situation.
We don't want anything worse to happen to her or to us, but feel like we're sort of stuck. I know that agencies and laws vary greatly from state to state, but I wonder if anyone has any thoughts about possible ways to make sure that she is not harming herself or other people.
If she were away from everyone and just affecting herself, I guess we'd think she is entitled to live as she chooses, but since fire is an issue, we aren't really comfortable with just forgetting about it.
Neighbors have called the sheriff's deputy and the fire department. The fire department has told her she can't burn things, but otherwise both say that there's nothing they can do about her living on her own land as she wants and that we should contact the family. We contacted family members, but they say they haven't been able to reason with her about anything, and that they hope that we, the neighborhood, will be able to get the authorities to do something about her situation.
We don't want anything worse to happen to her or to us, but feel like we're sort of stuck. I know that agencies and laws vary greatly from state to state, but I wonder if anyone has any thoughts about possible ways to make sure that she is not harming herself or other people.
If she were away from everyone and just affecting herself, I guess we'd think she is entitled to live as she chooses, but since fire is an issue, we aren't really comfortable with just forgetting about it.
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I'm not sure what the laws are where you are.
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there is more to it than "if she is living on her own land" because her land is attached to YOUR land. and what she does affects the entire community.
i'm just trying to think about who i would call. i really don't know. i would probably start by looking at the "city of portland" section of the phone book. if i found nothing, i'd call the non-emergency number for the police and ask them what to do. at least they might know how to direct the call.
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I'd guess beginning dementia of some sort. So sad
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I agree about the sanitation problems. That really does concern us.
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Maybe you could call Extreme Makeover Home Edition?
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