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Fire

Fire, House Renovation, Smoke Damage

Top Causes of Kitchen Fires in American Homes

If you begin thinking about common causes of house fires it wouldn’t come as a surprise to most that the overwhelming majority begin in the kitchen. The #1 cause of house fires and burn injuries, kitchen fires take place in over 166,000 homes every year! The number one cause? Unattended cooking equipment. For most, this means a frying pan left on a burner that got too hot, or an oven or broiler left on too long. In this post we will outline some common sense precautions every homeowner can take to greatly reduce the risk of a potentially deadly fire in your home.

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Fire, Smoke Damage, Tips

4 Steps to Free Your Home of Smoke Smells

If your in need of help dealing with smoke odor in your home, you’ve come to the right place. Perhaps your home has suffered from a small kitchen fire, an electrical fire from an outlet, or exposed wiring in a power cord and you’re now dealing with a smokey smell inside your house. We wrote this blog post to help you out with a process for dealing with smoke damage. It’s important to note that not all fires are created equal and some fires will be severe enough that they require professional fire damage restoration service.

One of the key factors in the severity of smoke damage in a home is the size, duration, and temperature of the fire. The longer the fire burns and the hotter it is, the more different materials begin to open up (expansion of fabrics, leathers, and vinyls) and absorb smoke. In this post we’ll cover some DIY methods for cleaning, deodorizing, and sealing belongings to eliminate that unwanted smoke smell once and for all!

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Fire, Tips

Things Lost in The Fire: 3 Items to Toss Out After a Fire, No Matter What!

For anyone who has suffered the devastation of a house fire one of the hardest parts of recovering is trying to decide what is salvageable and what must be tossed out. From pictures, to stuffed animals, to family heirlooms that hold sentimental value nothing is truly easy to part with. Even items like food that get exposed to smoke seem like a waste to dump out. However, when you consider the cost of potential health benefits that come with keeping items that become toxic due to smoke exposure, restocking a pantry is far less costly. For your safety and the safety of your loved ones, please follow our advice and throw these 3 things away after a fire.

Non-Perishables That Have Been Exposed to High Heat, Smoke & Firefighting Chemicals

Most homeowners will find it obvious to toss out opened food containers or anything that is in permeable packaging such as thin Ziplock bags, cardboard boxes, or in opened containers. However, they often are unsure what to do with items in cans or jars. the fact is food safety is a huge issue after a fire and precautions should be taken to ensure that no contaminated or dangerous foods are fed to family members after a fire.

When it comes to foods that are still sealed up, they may appear to be okay & safe to eat. Looks however can be deceiving. If these foods were located very near flames from the fire and exposed to high heat they may be unsafe to eat. Heat can activate bacteria leading to food spoilage, and toxic fumes can seep into glass jars and aluminum cans making the contents extremely dangerous to eat.

 

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