Fire Damage Causes

6/1/2022 (Permalink)

In this photo our customer experienced the entire kitchen becoming damaged due to an old appliance cord.

In our homes, there can be so many different types of dangers that are known to start fires.

SERVPRO of Lake Havasu City/Bullhead City/Kingman is most insurance companies first choice when referring their customers who have experienced fire damage because insurance companies are very familiar with the needs for removing all structural damage and properly clean and treat all soot, burnt wiring, and building materials before completely rebuilding the homes fire damaged rooms and areas to not only look fresh but to safely function properly including replacement of electrical wiring.

This home experienced a kitchen fire due to old electrical cord that was getting over heated and while no one was at home to recognize the problem.

Always keep in mind that appliances such as toasters, blenders, or any other counter type items with older frayed cords are not safe and the entire appliance should be thrown away and replaced for the safety of your home.

Fire damage and wood prep before rebuilding the home

6/4/2021 (Permalink)

This image shows one of the bedrooms after complete demo and removal of all building materials and the fresh rebuild is about to start.

When a home catches fire, the fire moves so quickly through the home causing walls, electrical wiring, and causes soot to rise into the rafters and actually harms the whole home.

In the home our teams just finished here, it was necessary to  remove every building material down to the framing. Once this is completed and removed from the property, SERVPRO orders the construction team to follow behind the demolition team and start rebuilding the home.

In this home, it was rebuilt with brand new walls, flooring, baseboards, fresh paint, new doors, ceiling, and even a new exterior roof.

When the home was finished, the home was entirely new and the homeowner was able to work with our team on color and style choices so this home ended up with a brand new look.

From start to finish this fire damaged home will not smell of fire, nor is it unsafe as this home even got completely new wiring throughout.

Encapsulation protects home after a fire

6/4/2021 (Permalink)

This shows the fully encapsulated framing that is protected and ready for rebuild

Here at SERVPRO our teams have had extensive training and are certified for when a fire damaged home is going to be cleaned out, and safely rebuilt properly.

One step that must happen is to treat the wood framing by a process called encapsulation. A special mix of shellac is sprayed as a sealer in fire damage restoration because of its prime ability to control fire odor. In fact, it boasts a decades-long history of successfully sealing smoke odor in treated surfaces.

It is critical to heavily treat all remaining wood materials before ever rebuilding the home.

SERVPRO is known for high quality home reconstruction and especially successful with rebuilding fire damage.

In the past year we have rebuilt many homes and the families are always very relived when they enter their home for the first time after the rebuild, that they feel no sense of fire damage and smell no soot or smoke damage remains either.

We know this is very comforting to families.

Board up after home fire

6/2/2021 (Permalink)

Here we are boarding up and securing the property for the family and by request of local law enforcement

It seems in Mohave County, as the heat comes on and we start seeing temperatures reaching over 100 degrees, house fires start to rise.

In the last month, just in Lake Havasu City, we have experienced 4 home or garage type fires.

Sadly, in such heated environments, the homes become a total loss very fast.

SERVPRO is a first responder in these home clean ups and with personal belongings, as well as insurance claims and investigations, boarding up the property to keep it preserved and safe, is the number one focus.

SERVPRO is on site immediately as the local police department and insurance companies call on SERVPRO as the #1 choice in these situations.

Our teams also stay involved with the families, making sure to get all important paperwork, special stuffed animals their child is found of, clothing, or any contents still usable that are important to the family's. Our contents team work diligently to restore, sanitize, and remove soot from these contents and hand them back to the family within 48 hours. Additionally, we perform all clean up of damaged materials inside the premise, work daily with their insurance and the family and we don't stop until their home is fully repaired and livable again.

Fire Damage Restoration

5/27/2021 (Permalink)

Bagged building materials and debris after a small fire in bathroom

Here at SERVPRO we treat every job equal rather it is a large or small job the customer needs. In this case the job was small, and we sent teams immediately to this home to assist the customer.

They had a small bathroom fire due to a fouled electrical plug and it caused a small bathroom fire. The fire escalated and damaged the walls and shower area near ceiling. Right away our team removed and bagged damaged materials and took them to the area outdoors where we will load these bags and dispose of the mess for the customer.

This eliminates smell, allows for cleaning and remodeling their bathroom and also shows respect to the family who had the bad experience of this bathroom fire.

SERVPRO aims to make the situation clean and fully repaired as quickly and easily as possible, while we also work together with the home owner as well as their preferred insurance provider.

Fire damaged interior of home

5/26/2021 (Permalink)

certified teams rebuilding a home after a large interior fire

Our certified team who rebuilds homes after fire has been working for the past month to rebuild the interior ceiling and rooftop of this families home after a fire took the entire home.

Once our clean up & demo team finishes all content packing, soot removal, and removes any damaged materials the construction team works daily to get the home back to a safe and fully repaired condition so that the family can come home.

That is always the goal, to get the odor gone, the home rebuilt, and the contents clean and ready to move them back in.

SERVPRO Project managers also remain in close contact with the homeowners so that the paint colors, new materials, flooring, & lighting is done to the preferences of the homeowner as well.

Our teams offer drywall skills, interior and exterior painting skills, and flooring or carpet as well.

Our goal is to make the home fresh and safe as though the fire never occurred.

Item burned inside garage

5/26/2021 (Permalink)

before the burnt concrete was cleaned

When fire happens, it can actually be an appliance or tool or even a battery being charged that catches fire within a home. Our customer was gone and had been charging a tool in the garage.

The realtor came to show the home and noticed a smell of fire and called SERVPRO right away.

When she inspected the home, she found burnt floor in the garage and the battery pack totally melted down.

It was a real blessing that this situation didn't actually turn in to a garage or home fire.

There was damaged concrete and a terrible lingering smell of fire wen the realtor decided to contact SERVPRO.

Our cleaning team arrived very quickly, to clean  and resurface the concrete. Our cleaning team also accessed the damage, and was able to clean the smell out of the garage and did a duct cleaning as well to make sure future odors didn't filter through the vents into the home.

Home Fire after Fire Department puts out fire

5/20/2020 (Permalink)

picture shows the master bedroom with insulation and debris all over the bed and room damaged of fire.

In homes, it is a very devastating feeling when the home catches fire.

While it is scary to experience fire inside our home, it is quite a set back to walk through your home "after" the fire department has safely put the fire out because they work they do, leaves the home an even larger disaster.

Insulation ends up falling down from the attic, debris is settled all over, and this is when choosing SERVPRO to help, ends up being such a relief on my levels.

To choose a Restoration Company that knows the importance of boarding up window openings, clean up from the fire department's mess, then to know SERVPRO will carefully pack up belongings, take them to their cleaning machines by Esporta and bring personal belongings back to clean and sanitary, while their Demo Team and their Repairs teams "Get to Work" in assessing damage, removing damage, then rebuilding the home, is the most settling feeling for a residential customer who's home has been burned and turned upside down. When our customer re-enters their home, in full repair, no more fire odors, and safely repaired back to "Like it never even happened," condition, this allows our customers to feel very comfortable they chose SERVPRO. 

Board up after Fire

5/18/2020 (Permalink)

Home exterior photo showing window openings board up for safety

When a residential property experiences a house fire, the fire has typically gotten so hot that the home's windows blow out and before this home is able to get cleaned up and rebuilt, there are weeks that a home sits while the Fire Dept. and City to determine the cause of the fire. During this wait, it is very important to board up these homes because of personal belongings as well as to keep people out who are not supposed to enter. By law, nothing is t be interrupted while the home is under investigation and the homeowner's insurance is assessing as well.

SERVPRO is available 24/7 to do board ups quickly when needed in any situation.

Families are really distraught when their home experiences a fire, and SERVPRO quickly collects their most important personal belongings, cleans and restores them, and takes them back to the family to help them find peace during a very tough time.

Being there for family who had Home Fire

4/16/2020 (Permalink)

SERVPRO Esporta Cleaning Center

It certainly is a shock and very unknown area of life when a family wakes up in the night to heavy smoke and is forced to think and act so quickly even from a deep sleep-about a situation most of us will never experience and others have no previous experience with. This is one situation everyone reaches out to their insurance provider about however the first response if the Fire Dept. The Fire Dept works diligently to bring the family and pets to safety and put the fire out all in an immediate first step. From there, the windows will need boarded up to protect their home and belongings and so that the property remains untouched for the Insurance Visit to the home.

SERVPRO- is the next and part of the First Responders and this is availalbe 24/7.

We send our Team immediately whether day or night! SERVPRO works along side the Fire Dept to secure the home and from there, SERVPRO ends up working very hands on with the Families Insurance to help clean out all Personal Content. SERVPRO does a Pack Up, takes all belongings to our Facility to put through our Esporta Cleaning System and we talk with the family to be sure we understand what's MOST important for them to have back the soonest.

We run the items through Esporta and deliver them back right away and continue working on clearing out the Fire Odors, Soot, Fire Damaged Structure. While the Family lives, and resides in temporary housing provided by insurance, SERVPRO works at clean up and full restoration of their home. Once all the home is safely repaired, we provide a courtesy Cleaning and bring the family home. This makes for the fastest recovery and offers them their home again "Like it never even happened."

Encapsulation of wood framing after fire clean-up

4/16/2020 (Permalink)

Photo shows the home SERVPRO has fully demo'd and repaired before the family gets to come home

In the process where SERVPRO is preparing a home that has had Fire damage, the smells and air quality are very strong and unhealthy to say the least.

Even weeks after the entire home has been demo'd and the inside of the home is close to being ready for Construction to replace Drywall, Re-Texture Walls, Paint, Lay flooring, etc... The odor still lingers!

Here at SERVPRO we sanitize the air quality by cleaning Ducts, and even often replacing the Duct Work. The next step is to encapsulate all wood framing that was not damaged however still has been affected by odor.

Once full encapsulation is complete, the home begins to have a clean smell and is safe for being reconstructed.

SERVPRO takes great pride in this entire process and the family is always very hands on in the SERVPRO Process as well which is actually very healing for the family because when anyone has been awoken by a home fire, it is very scary and unsettling!

Allowing these families to be a part in choosing what Personal Belongings they get back within 48 hours, helping to choose new paint colors, flooring, and stepping in to their home once it is encapsulated, it very comforting and these families begin to not only feel hopeful but they begin to relax and see themselves actually coming home.

Fire Damage Repair entire home

3/31/2020 (Permalink)

Certified teams rebuilding this home to new again

Residential home fires are always a real shock to a family! Even when a house fire gets put out quickly, many rooms in the home still end up highly effected. Intense heat, heavy smoke, the mess that remains from soot and the water and retardant chemicals sprayed all over the home by firefighters when putting the fire out- all take a major toll on the whole home.

Then there is a very heavy smell of smoke that lingers. All of this is why SERVPRO has put together such an extensive plan in the Mitigation of demo and clean up. The SERVPRO Team who sees these projects from start to finish, are most concerned with removing all fire damaged drywall and wood framing that was affected, however- it is very critical to clean out all odors and this means deodorize and sanitize Duct Work or replace it. Additionally, all wood structure that is exposed but not damaged, needs Encapsulated with a special type of paint that seals all wood from lingering smell before the home is rebuilt.

The homeowners are often a bit uncomfortable seeing their home like this. However as the Repairs Team who does the remodeling and reconstruction starts working with them so they see a light at the end of the tunnel.

As their home starts looking and smelling right and they are picking tile and paint for their rebuild, we can always see the excitement and hope which is exactly what SERVPRO prides ourselves on, as our goal is always to make it "Like it never even happened."

Why SERVPRO for Fire Damage & Repairs

3/6/2020 (Permalink)

Residential Fire Damage

One of our recent customers was a family that experienced a house fire that started in the child's bedroom. The smoke & heat of the fire, and the  soot absolutely ruined the houses inside walls, ceilings, electrical wiring, their bedroom closets, bathrooms, and all ceilings and floors.

The smell of fire lingered for weeks. Because SERVPRO is not only a First Responder to assess damages, work together with the homeowner and their insurance adjuster, we have built a large skilled set of teams that differ in their skill set so SERVPRO was able to Assess, Demo, and fully repair this home.

As we would communicate each step to the home owners, they became very relieved knowing what to expect next. I watched this family go from being stressed over such loss, to showing hope and smiles on their faces as their home was cleaned, deodorized, encapsulating their inner framing inside their home, then rebuild their homes drywall, floors, and all the internal details of their home, staying true to the SERVPRO goal which is "Like it never even happened." This also included removing personal belongings, cleaning them using our ESPORTA Cleaning System which is a very new Technology we invested in to protect and return valuable personal belongings which saves Insurance Adjusters, Agents Companies thousands of dollars as well.   

What to do after a fire damage

1/14/2020 (Permalink)

Once SERVPRO finishes repairs, this kitchen will be like new

After a fire damage in your home or business, there are a few things you should do and should not do prior to our SERVPRO team arrival.  Smoke damage can also cause a lot of damage in and around the affected areas.  One of the things you should do, is to limit movement in the affected areas of the home or business.  Soot and particles can become embedded into the carpet and upholstery.  This includes touching with your un-gloved hands.  If you absolutely need to enter the affected area, place some old linens on carpet traffic areas.  Also if your electricity is off, completely empty your freezer and refrigerator and leave doors open to prevent bad odor and possible biohazards.  

You should never attempt to dry wet areas with any air movement as this will cause soot and particles to become air born.  You should not attempt to shampoo affected upholstery or carpet without the proper chemicals, this could set in the smoke odor.  

If you need fire cleaning services, call the professionals!  SERVPRO of Lake Havasu City/Bullhead City/Kingman are here to help!