What You Should Or Should Not Do After Fire Damage Affects Your Wekiva Home

6/2/2020 (Permalink)

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You had to watch as a fire broke out in your home; you were able to get everyone to safety and contact the authorities but felt helpless as you stood there, watching. Doing a little research on your own led you to give us a call. But now you do not want to wait. What can you start to clean or remove on your own and what should you let SERVPRO handle? 

Learning what you should or should not do after a fire damage incident on your property is important. While you are waiting for an expertly trained professional to arrive, there are many ways you can help, just keep in mind that you should avoid doing too much. Some items on this list are for Do-It-Your-Selfers; however we highly recommend that you call us first.

Make sure to focus your attention on safety, eliminate any possible electrical or gas hazards by shutting the services off to your house. ONLY if it is safe. No one knows your home better than you do; you should be able to locate slip and fall hazards before anyone else.

You can limit traffic to prevent soot particles from being embedded into your upholstery and carpeting, by placing clean towels or old linens on any rugs, upholstery or carpeting found in high traffic areas. Keep your hands clean to avoid transferring different soils to clean upholstery, walls, or woodwork.

Do not attempt any activities that are unsafe for you to perform on your own. Remember, some of these materials can weigh a lot due to water exposure, so be careful. There is no reason to move the big items out on your own; SERVPRO technicians are on the way.


If you were able to turn off your electricity properly, you can empty your freezer and refrigerator and prop the doors open for cleaning. If the fire damage is relatively minor, leave the fridge closed for us to come and inspect. You can also help SERVPRO technicians by removing any small loose items found throughout your home, such as house plants, desk lamps, and other small appliances to a safe, dry location carefully.

Placing double layers of cheesecloth over all of your air registers and changing your HVAC filter helps. But, avoid turning on your ventilation system, you'll just end up causing additional cleaning that wasn't otherwise necessary, so letting us do the work is preferable.

Avoid washing walls or painted surfaces, or shampooing your carpet and other upholstery items without contacting us. Do not clean any electrical appliances directly affected by fire, heat, or water; SERVPRO has specialty restoration services for those items, to avoid accidental secondary damage. Soot cleaning is more complicated that it may look. 

You should also avoid using any canned or packaged food or beverages stored near the source of the fire, heat, or exposed to water. Also, never send any clothing or other garments to an ordinary dry cleaner after a fire, as improper cleaning used on affected items may cause smoke odors to set permanently.

For more advice, and fire damage restoration service, on what you should or should not do after a fire, contact SERVPRO of Apopka / Wekiva today. (407) 788-3124.

SERVPRO of Apopka Wekiva is proud to serve Central Florida cities like Orlando, Wekiva Springs, Apopka, Lockhart, Zellwood and many more.