'Hoarders: Buried Alive' takes on rat-infested Wash. house

SPANAWAY, Wash., April 24 (UPI) -- TLC series "Hoarding: Buried Alive" sent a crew to clean out a Washington state home that had become known as the "Spanaway House of Rats."

The Spanaway house, which was made notorious for its rat infestation by a January article in The (Tacoma) News Tribune, was visited Tuesday by camera crews from the series along with an exterminator and a clean-up crew of more than 20 people in hazardous materials suits, The News Tribune reported Wednesday.

"The inside is like a garbage dump," said Mark Gore, who bought the house with his brother, Tony, in a foreclosure sale near the end of 2012.

Exterminator Dennis Day said he has been working at the home for about three weeks and has removed "a high number" of rats from the property.

"We got most of them," Day said, "but there are still some inside. There are dead rats in there, too -- and a lot of rat blood."

The house's former owner, whose name was not released, was also on

hand to say goodbye to her former possessions as they were loaded into garbage trucks. The woman said she hoped to buy the house back.

Mark and Tony Gore were unsure when they were asked if they would consider renting the home back to the woman once it was ready to be inhabited.

"I'd have to think about that," Mark Gore said.

"The woman's lawyer contacted the show, and the show agreed to go in and bring things out, which would save us the time, money and effort," Mark Gore said. "She was convinced there were treasures in the house. We agreed to let them do it. They hired the exterminator."

"Personally, I thought it would be a better show if they left the rats there," he said.