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Video Transcription
An appliance in your home short circuited and had an electrical fire and caused damage in your home. The first thing you want to do is make sure that you disconnect any of the power to that particular appliance, so you don’t run the risk of the fire starting back up, reigniting and creating even more damage that has already occurred.
Once that has been taken care of, you want to make sure that you inspect the entire home for soot and dust that could have collected from the smoke. One of the telltale signs that smoke or soot got into a room is you look in the corners of the ceilings, and you’ll see cobwebs will collect that soot and that smoke and they’ll turn black. So, cobwebs that you didn’t even know were in the corner of your room will turn black and they’ll show themselves. That’s how you would know that, that room actually did get affected by the smoke and soot damage.
The next thing you want to do is hire a professional contents company. It is going to be much easier for your insurance to reimburse you for your items that were damaged or lost in the fire with the way they inventory all of your items that were in your home. So that’s one of the number one tips that I can give you guys for taking care of electrical fire.
CIRS Sensitive and Smoke Fumes
For households with CIRS-susceptible individuals or other sensitivities, the presence of ultrafine smoke particles can exacerbate symptoms such as:
- Respiratory irritation (coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath)
- Eye and skin irritation
- Headaches and fatigue
- Asthma flare-ups or other chronic condition exacerbations
Even minor smoke exposure can have outsized effects in sensitive individuals, making professional remediation more than just a cosmetic concern, it’s a health-focused intervention.
Professional contents services can help inventory and protect your belongings, which is important not just for insurance purposes, but also for safely handling items that may have absorbed smoke and soot. Improper cleaning can leave behind residues that continue to affect indoor air quality.
Our approach emphasizes medically sound remediation and Small Particle Cleaning (SPC). This includes:
- Targeted cleaning of ultrafine particles that settle in HVAC systems, wall cavities, and furniture
- Deodorization and chemical neutralization of residual smoke compounds
- Protocols that minimize cross-contamination, critical in homes with medically vulnerable individuals
By taking these steps, you can reduce lingering health risks, prevent long-term contamination, and improve indoor air quality, long after the visible smoke and soot are gone. Proper remediation ensures that the environment is safe for everyone, particularly those sensitive to mold, VOCs, and ultrafine particulate matter.
A Science-Backed Approach to Fire and Smoke Damage
While basic cleanup after a fire can be handled by any restoration company, our team approaches these projects with a medically sound perspective. Fire damage isn’t only about what you see, soot, smoke particles, and ultrafine debris can settle deep into materials and linger in the air. For families who are medically sensitive or managing conditions like CIRS, this contamination can make reoccupying a home unsafe.
At Orange Restoration, our background in Medically Sound Mold Remediation and Small Particle Cleaning (SPC) informs how we handle fire and smoke damage. Every step is guided by science-based protocols to reduce cross-contamination and create an environment where sensitive individuals can truly recover. While our primary focus is on mold remediation, we may step in for fire or flood projects when a medically vulnerable household needs services carried out with higher precision and training.
Our work goes beyond returning a building to pre-loss condition, it’s about protecting long-term health by applying the highest standards of remediation.