Fire Damage Restoration In Your Augusta Home

1/19/2020 (Permalink)

Kitchen fires require technical understanding as well as professional know-how to mitigate and restore.

Grease Fire Damage Restoration for Augusta Residents

Cooking fires are among the most common cause of the fire, accounting for 44% of all residential fires in the US. These usually occur from grease or animal fats, which ignite rapidly and can be very difficult to smother before extensive harm. Avoiding kitchen fires involves keeping an eye on high fatty products such as bacon throughout cooking. You may also want to clean pots, pans, and the walls or shelving directly above your stove to prevent the buildup of grease- which can become additional fuel when pans catch fire. If you witness a pan catching fire, turn off the heat and smother it immediately using a metal lid to cut off oxygen.

Responding quickly can help to reduce fire damage in your Augusta home, but it does not prevent it altogether. Typically the countertops remain safe from harm while cabinets directly above the stove and ceiling suffer massive amounts of smoke damages. It is not uncommon for wooden cabinets directly above the furnace to become so severely charred that removal and replacement of the door or assembly entirely are necessary. Fire and smoke damage restoration technicians (FRST) of SERVPRO are qualified to assess which items in your kitchen are salvageable.

Extinguishing a fire is just the first step in your home's recovery process. At this stage, it is vital to avoid introducing water to the affected area. Grease-based soiling does not respond well to water, and you may end up spreading soots or setting them into the surfaces you are trying to clean. Opening windows can help to ventilate some odors while placing sheets or old fabrics over the countertops, and on the floor underneath the ceiling, soiling can help to prevent falling soots from causing additional harm. SERVPRO technicians use pre-testing materials to assess the PH balance of soots or smoke residue to determine the correct cleaning method.

There may be some removal of kitchen components during the restoration procedure. In flash fires like this, there is a chance that the enamel of upper cabinets melts, leaving exposing the wood behind. Exposing the wood can lead to severe charring, in which case the assembly needs removal and replacement. In some situations, a SERVPRO technician can apply water pressure or soda blasting to the affected surface and refinish it to a good standard.

Kitchen fires require technical understanding as well as professional know-how to mitigate and restore. Contact SERVPRO of Augusta at (706) 750-0200.

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