Home >> Fire and Smoke Damage >> Repair Tips

Things to Avoid After a Fire

A fire on your property is one of the toughest disasters to recover from. Even after the last embers have been doused by fire fighters, discreet dangers can still linger on. The heat, smoke and soot that are generated by a raging fire can create invisible hazards that can cause additional damage to your building or pose a threat to the people in it.

If you’ve had a recent fire in your home or workplace, call All County DKI immediately (888-616-6811) for an inspection and a cost estimate of a full restoration project. We have the ability to get to your site in a few hours if it’s in the South Florida area. For any other location across the United States, we guarantee to be right on your doorstep in 24 hours or less after your initial call.

While waiting for our fire damage restoration teams to arrive on the scene, you can help keep everyone safe and minimize additional damage to your property by following the following safety tips:

• Don’t try to wash or wipe absorbent surfaces such as wood and drywall. Doing it the wrong way can result in soot and other caustic particles boring down deeper into the surfaces, making it harder to clean out. Since smoke and soot particles are caustic, adding water to them only helps create weak acids that can eat away at both wooden and metallic parts of your structure.
• Avoid contact with any upholstered surfaces for now. The soot on them could be pressed further down and this can make restoration more complex. Sitting or lying down on upholstered furniture exposed to smoke can also release the soot into the air, raising the chances of people inhaling it and suffering from respiratory problems.
• Don’t consume any food and drinks exposed to extreme heat or smoke. High temperatures can create dangerous chemical reactions that can make food unsuitable for use. Soot and other caustic chemicals can also contaminate food and cause people to get sick.
• Hold off on using any appliances until the professional restoration company gives you the go-signal. Fire and smoke can damage both electrical and electronic components. If you turn them on before restoration measures are applied, you could risk short circuiting them and breaking them beyond repair.
• Any clothes, draperies and floor coverings that were exposed to smoke shouldn’t be sent right away for regular washing or dry cleaning. Ordinary cleaning methods can seal in the smell of smoke into the fabrics, rendering these materials unfit for future use.

For best results in disaster recovery, leave the cleaning and repair work to All County DKI’s team of professionals. We have the knowledge, tools and materials to get the job done quickly and effectively. Call us today and get your property back to the way that it was before the fire happened.

Our service area includes: Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Hialeah, Homestead, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, Pembroke Pines, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and surrounding areas. We work with all insurance companies. Please call us now at 888-616-6811 and talk to our friendly and professional staff. You can also contact us with the form on our Contact Us page. You can trust the All County DKI property restoration specialists. You will be glad that you selected our team.