A call for help took a shocking turn in Cambria County.

Rescuers responded to a cardiac arrest at a home in Reade Township only to find they couldn’t get in. The unfortunate tragedy now has neighbors concerned about the future of the nearby home.

“There are rats,” one lady who didn’t want to be identified said. “You can see them coming out the back. It’s a health hazard.”

Anyone driving by can notice it. Rooms packed so full you can’t see through the windows. However, the ones who live the closest tell us it’s not just the look that bothers them.

“The stench is so bad that you can’t even walk up and down the street,” the concerned neighbor told us. “I can’t open my house windows. When it’s really hot you can’t even be outside because the smell is so bad and the bugs are really bad.”

Emergency responders said it’s the worst case of hoarding they’ve ever seen. So bad it took them about 5 hours to go 5 feet. Wearing hazmat suits they had to cut through the bedroom window to get inside. Residents said this has been a problem for a while.

“I was told that there’s human feces inside the house in buckets,” the woman told us. “That’s a health issue.”

People just want to see it cleared up, but the future of the home is up in the air.

Emergency management told us they recognize there’s a problem and have made calls to town supervisors and the DEP to see if anything can be done.