The oldest and most complex of the restoration disciplines, fire remediation work requires an understanding of how fire and combustion residues behave to effectively neutralize and return a structure to a livable state.Cole Stanton explores four fundamental chemistry subsets of fire damage and how each can impact restoration work.
In the fire restoration industry today, many practitioners use ozone generators as one of their primary means to neutralize smoke odor. Although ozone may be effective to some degree in neutralizing odors, many experts disagree on its effectiveness and whether the risks outweigh the rewards. So, what is ozone? And what are the associated health risks? Sean and Briana Scott examine the effects of ozone exposure and offer necessary precautions for working with ozone.
Specialized teams of artists, electronic technicians or textile restoration personnel are trained to analyze items based on many types of damage: heat, soot, smoke, humidity, breakage and water. The most elusive damage is from soot. Short term, lingering soot in items will cause a smoke smell to persist in the room. Medium to longer term, up to six months or a year, these soot particles can cause corrosion in electronics and the item can stop working.
Annissa Coy has found over the years that when a hoarding job goes sideways, there are three big mistakes that often are the culprit. “If you avoid these, you will be setting yourself and your client up for success right from the start,” she writes.
‘Tis the season for reflection and, keeping with tradition, we’re revisiting the most viewed – and listened to – elements of R&R from 2021. This year we’ve expanded our purview, adding two categories (news stories and podcast episodes) and sharing top-15 lists instead of top-10.
In this episode of Ask Annissa, Annissa Coy addresses the following question: “I’m responding to fires from a scanner and I’m not signing any of the jobs. What do you think I am doing wrong?”
Every fire has its own chemical makeup or DNA – the fuels that burned, the types of chemicals that have reacted or interacted, the duration of the fire, the intensity of the heat, the odors and gases the fire generates all contribute to the uniqueness and toxicity of structure fire environments.
The technology and tools we now have at our disposal for contents cleaning and inventory are great and so nice to have, as long as we remember to use them to enhance our ability to create the right kind of experience for our clients and not use it to replace human interaction and relationships.
In this personal, heartfelt Ask Annissa episode, Annissa Coy talks about evacuating her home in the face of the Ford Corkscrew Fire. An experienced fire damage restoration and contents cleaning professional, Coy has worked with property owners through many wildfires and more home fires than she can count. This was the first time Coy and her family were personally impacted.
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