Fire Restoration near you

Not you, and not the contractor who arrived first. USFA's instruction is direct: do not enter your damaged home or apartment unless the fire department says it is safe. Its checklist repeats the point and adds the reason, telling people to check with the fire department to make sure the home is safe to enter and to be very careful going inside because floors and walls may not be as safe as they look.

Utilities are handled the same way. USFA states that the fire department will make sure water, electricity and gas are safe to use, that firefighters will have the utilities turned off or disconnected before they leave if they are not, and that you should not try to turn them back on yourself. Security follows: contact your police department to let them know you will be away from the home, and in some cases board up windows and doors so no one can get in. If pets are in the picture, USFA notes that scared animals often react by biting or scratching and suggests leaving them with a family member, friend or veterinarian while the house is being cleaned.

Then money and paper. USFA advises contacting your insurance company right away and asking what to do first, getting in touch with your landlord or mortgage lender, reporting credit cards lost in the fire, and saving all receipts for any money you spend, because the receipts may be needed later by the insurance company and to prove losses claimed on a tax return.

Odor is the part of a fire loss homeowners feel most and can judge least, which is why it attracts equipment that looks decisive. Ozone generators are the most common example, and EPA's assessment of them as air cleaners is unflattering. EPA states that at concentrations that do not exceed public health standards, ozone has little potential to remove indoor air contaminants, and that at those same concentrations ozone is not effective at removing many odor-causing chemicals. It adds that the concentration of ozone would have to greatly exceed health standards to be effective in removing most indoor air contaminants, and that ozone does not remove particles, including the dust and pollen that cause allergies.

Ozone is also not harmless. EPA states that when inhaled, ozone can damage the lungs, and that relatively low amounts can cause chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath and throat irritation. It notes that the FDA limits ozone output of indoor medical devices to 0.05 parts per million, that workplace exposure is capped at 0.10 parts per million averaged over eight hours, and that its own outdoor standard is a maximum eight-hour average of 0.08 parts per million.

None of that means odor cannot be removed after a fire. It means the removal is done by taking the residue out: discarding what is porous and contaminated, cleaning every surface including the ones the fire never reached, cleaning or replacing ductwork, sealing surfaces only after they are clean, and ventilating. If a proposal leads with a machine and is vague about what will be removed and cleaned, the machine is standing in for the work rather than finishing it.

Contents are usually the largest single argument in a fire claim and the part homeowners are least prepared for. USFA's advice is to talk with your insurance company about how to learn the value of your home and property, and it notes that there are companies specializing in cleaning and restoring personal items, suggesting you ask your insurer for recommendations of companies you can trust, make sure you know whether you or the insurer will pay for the cleaning, and ask for a cost estimate in writing.

Practically, items sort into three piles. Hard, non-porous things with no heat damage usually clean well. Porous items that absorbed smoke, including mattresses, upholstered furniture, and much of what was stored in cardboard, are often not economically restorable. Between them sits a large grey category, clothing, electronics, books and photographs, where the answer depends on the residue and how quickly the item was treated. Two rules cover most of it: nothing leaves the property before it is photographed and listed, and no one gets to declare an item unsalvageable without saying so in the written inventory. USFA also has specific advice for money, suggesting burnt bills be handled as little as possible and placed in plastic wrap, and noting that partly burnt currency can be replaced through a Federal Reserve Bank or the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

A fire claim is long, and the record you keep in the first week determines how much of it goes your way. USFA's checklist is a good starting frame: contact your insurance company, ask what you should do to keep the home safe until it is repaired, ask who you should talk to about cleaning up the home, contact your landlord or mortgage company to report the fire, try to find valuable documents and records, tell the local police if the site will be vacant, and begin saving receipts for anything you spend related to the fire loss. It adds a step most people miss, suggesting you check with an accountant or the IRS about special benefits for people recovering from a fire loss.

Two documents are worth insisting on. The first is a written cost estimate for any contents cleaning, which USFA specifically recommends asking for, along with clarity on whether you or the insurer is paying. The second is a written scope for the building work, separating emergency mitigation, which happens immediately, from the rebuild, which happens under permit and takes months. If someone arrives offering to do all of it and to handle the claim, check what license that requires in your state before agreeing, because handling a claim on your behalf is a separately regulated service in most of the country.

Fire pricing tracks how far the smoke went rather than how far the flames did. The drivers are the size of the affected area and the number of rooms smoke reached, what burned and therefore what kind of residue has to be cleaned, how much firefighting water went in and how many days of drying that requires, how much material is removed to reach sound substrate, whether ducts and mechanical systems need cleaning or replacement, whether contents cleaning and storage are in scope, the age of the building and any lead or asbestos obligations that come with demolition, and whether the rebuild is a repair or a reconstruction under permit. Ask for emergency services, contents, and reconstruction as three separate documents.

LokalMatch is how you reach several companies at once instead of signing with whoever knocks first. You describe the loss once: when the fire happened, which parts of the house are affected, whether the fire department has released the building, whether a claim is open and how much of the contents are involved. Fire restoration contractors serving your area receive the request and the interested ones contact you directly. It costs homeowners nothing and pros pay for the requests they receive. LokalMatch does not perform restoration, does not set prices, does not handle insurance claims, and does not vet, rank or recommend any company, so the licensing check, the written estimate and the scope remain yours.