Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration

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Odor removal is one of the more subjective parts of restoration and remediation work. What one person smells, another may not. What is offensive-smelling to one person, may smell sweet as roses to someone else (anyone want to talk about the smell of diesel fumes?!). 

It was another warm and windy night in Southern California. As with any strong East wind event, we anticipated hearing about a small brush fire or two in the morning, so it wasn’t much of a surprise to hear about the one that kicked up about 20 miles away.

Like the boy that cried wolf, some fire professionals have been hearing about the first-ever internationally accredited fire restoration standard for a long time – or what feels like a long time – and a yeah, call me when it’s done reaction is understandable. Yet it seems a larger group, a majority of fire damage contractors, aren’t even aware development is underway.

Question: If you hired a restoration firm and paid them to restore your structure and contents, would you expect them to clean strictly for appearance, or should the safety and health of workers and your family be the primary concern?

Odor removal in general can be one of the trickier elements to any restoration project. When it comes to large loss, removing the smoke odor (for example) from a warehouse the size of Ikea is no easy feat. It takes a knowledgeable restoration company and the right equipment to get the job done the right way, so there is no residual odor – and the odor doesn’t return later.

In the restoration industry, we talk about catastrophe loss quite often. In fact, R&R is launching a conference dedicated to educating restorers on handling CAT claims. However, there is a common misconception when it comes to disaster restoration: that traveling is required. 

Strange, how a fire can ignite from the most unlikely source; especially when that source is water related. A condo in an affluent community drew the unlucky straw of being located next to a pump station that ran the lawn sprinkler for six homes.