Fire Damage, What's next?

11/3/2021 (Permalink)

When people think of fire and soot damage as a fire that has flames blazing out of the home and often people assume everything is a total loss. In our experience many fire jobs come in all sizes and severity with an unlikely to be a total loss. Fire damage can be a puffback, a cooking fire, a whole home fire etc. When a fire with flames occur often a fire company may be called during the fire company’s attempt to control the fire windows and doors may become broken or forced open. Next the fire company may apply water to put out the fire. Sometimes the fire company may cut the power to the meter. The customer may need board up services for the broken windows and door right away.

Before a cleanup of fire damage can occur, there are questions to be asked and ensure the site is ready for work. If the customer does not have the answer to the question the SERVPRO office team will determine the best course of action. SERVPRO will need to verify the following:

1. Customer Information to include Name, Address of Services, Phone Number, Email Address.
2. Insurance Info such as Insurance Company and Claim Number, Adjuster, Agent, Deductible and policy limits.
3. What kind of fire was it, gas, cooking, electrical?
4. When did the incident occur?
5. Has the fire department or fire Marshall cleared the scene meaning they are done investigating the cause, until this has been done the space needs to be protected as a crime scene.
6. Does the insurance need to complete their own investigation? If there has been report of an ongoing issue with the cause such as a faulty hot water heater electrical malfunction, they want to hold the responsible party. (Only insurance adjuster can determine coverage or subrogation issues).

With the question above reviewed then the SERVPRO team can make a visit to begin the assessment of damage and determine the scope of the work from several rooms of demo, customer move out for several months or cleaning services.