Top 10 Fire Restoration Tips

1. Safety First
Before ever entering a building that has experienced fire or water damage, you need to be sure the structure is safe. Do not take your own word for it, always have a professional tell you if the structure is sound. Do not let children or pets anywhere near the structure, for their own safety. Turn off water and electricity before entering the structure as well, but bring a flashlight.

2. Protect Yourself
If you do enter, wear goggles, gloves, boots and a face mask to protect your lungs from lingering debris in the air. If there is a lot of damage, you may also want to wear protective clothing, to protect your self from sharp, broken objects you mat encounter.

3. Save your Pets!
If there are any pets remaining in the home, get them out. If you have fish that survived the fire, change their water promptly to save them. If you own birds, very carefully wipe any soot or debris off of their feathers, and the same with and rodents or other pets. Be sure to wash all pet toys, pens, cages, and food dishes as well.

4. Debris Control
If there is a lot of debris throughout the house, it heightens health risks because of dust particles. Use a hose, or buckets of water to wet down the debris and make them less dangerous. you will need to get them wet to clean them out anyways, but the sooner the better for health reasons.

5. Clean and Remove Debris
Once wet, you can start to remove debris from the floor and off objects. Do not try and clean debris off of walls yet, as the ash will make it very difficult and you may make things work. If you can not hire a professional to clean up, be sure to do thorough research on cleaning fire debris.

6. Save Plants
If you had any plants or plant life in or around your home during the fire, they will need to be cleaned off as well to prevent soot from killing them. Take a clean, damp wash cloth and wipe down every leaf and or branch thoroughly. Bigger plants can be sprayed off with a hose first, just be sure to remove all fire debris.

7. Dry Clean
Clothes, linens, and other textiles exposed to smoke will have a very strong odor after the fire that will not come out with regular washing. Call dry cleaners in your area to see if any of them specialize in removing fire smoke odors and stains. Regular dry cleaning will not get the job done, and dry cleaning is not cheap, so be sure they have the solvents and materials required to clean your things.

8. Ventilate the Area
As soon as you have re-entered the damaged area, open all doors and windows to ventilate the area. You may need to leave your windows open for several days as you continue the restoration process, so that the area is as aired out as possible.

9. Throw Out Food
Any open food that was exposed to fire or smoke needs to be thrown out. If there was any smoke or soot in your fridge or freezer, that food will need to be thrown out too. Carefully observe every food item you do keep before ingesting, as it can be very hazardous to your health to ingest soot.

10. Do not use appliances
Appliances of any kind that were exposed to the fire should not be used again until they have been properly observed and cleaned out. Smoke and soot that get in to appliances can cause them to malfunction, and possibly cause yet another fire, which you certainly do not need.