Vacant Home In Foreclosure Since 2008 Likely Cause Of Neighborhood Cockroach Invasion; City Slates Date With Wrecking Ball, But Must 1st Purge Pests

In Hammond, Indiana, The Times of Northwest Indiana reports:

• An emergency demolition order was issued Thursday for an empty East Hammond house that neighbors claim is the nexus of an expanding cockroach infestation.
  
  Residents of the 900 block of Eaton Street sought assistance from the Board of Public Works and Safety last week in combating the insect invasion, which they said was spreading to adjacent streets in all directions.
  
  Before the 91-year-old building can be torn down, the roaches must first be killed, said Kelly Kearney, code enforcement commissioner, or they would immediately occupy neighboring properties.
  
  "Everything in there is infested," Kearney said. "There's a massive, massive amount of roaches." Residents said the insects first appeared in June after the owner and a tenant moved out, leaving behind mounds of debris and a dead dog in the basement.
  
  Pest control professionals estimated at one to three weeks could be needed to exterminate all the roaches, Building Commissioner Kurt Koch said.

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• Owner Carl Harris told the works board Thursday he would like to get his property back but doesn't have the money to catch up with his mortgage on the house, which has been in foreclosure since 2008.

For more, see Hammond orders demolition of cockroach-infested house.