Every household commonly uses fire for cooking, heating, and lighting. Fire is even in familiar household appliances, like hot water heaters, boilers, and laundry dryers. Simple steps can be taken to avoid and minimize smoke/soot damage and the devastating effects of water damage in a home from controlling the in-home fire – steps like checking fire alarms twice a year and replacing the batteries in them, safe storage of flammable materials throughout the house and more importantly, the garage, and doing electrical safety checks throughout the home.

Once you have been a victim of fire in the home, knowing what to do next and assessing the damage are the most important things to do. Post-fire assessment can be broken down into five main areas:

• Ensure your family’s safety – make arrangements to stay somewhere else while authorities are deciding about the integrity of the home.
  
• Secure the property – if it has been a serious fire, then you will need to secure your property against further damage, theft, and intrusion.
  
• Assess the Exterior Fire Damage – If safe, walk around the home and make notes, even photograph or video the property so you have a record of the home’s condition – take particular note of the roof, chimneys, and the supporting structure, as well as the walls, windows, and the area surrounding the home, including any additional structures you own, vehicles, or neighboring homes.
  
• Assess the Interior Fire Damage – if you have access to the property take time to check ceilings, walls and floors, check insulation, heating and cooling systems, the foundation and supporting timbers, as well as take an inventory of appliances and personal items. Photographic records are often the most helpful documents to have – both before and after damage from fire and smoke.
  
• Assess Computer and Information Losses – find all of your electronic devices with personal information on them and get them offsite as soon as possible to minimize further damage from the elements and structural collapse. Find a reputable data recovery specialist who can ascertain whether you have recoverable data or not.

Once you have assessed the damage to your home and property from fire/smoke/soot damage and from water damage during fire containment, call 800-369-4121 to speak with our smoke and fire damage cleanup specialists in Massachusetts today. Time is of the essence!