Info: Space Heater Fire Safety and Fire Damage

4/19/2020 (Permalink)

Even minor to moderate fires can cause heat and smoke related issues.

Preventing Fire Damage In Your Chicago Home From A Space Heater

Chicago can experience some frigid winters, and one of the favorite ways to heat homes here is with space heaters. They are especially popular because of their small and portable size, which makes them easy to reposition. However, this preferred method of keeping warm can put your home in danger of a fire if it is not safely used.

When you have had minor fire damage from a space heater in your Chicago home, you still need the assistance of a professional remediation company to help you clean and restore your home. SERVPRO is always ready to help you with our expertise and tools to get the job done thoroughly and quickly.

Even with a minor fire, smoke residues affect the immediate area, plus may have traveled to other rooms of the home. Even with a light to moderate amount of smoke, SERVPRO technicians need to restore your home with dry or wet cleaning methods, depending on the surface where the soot and smoke are. A few areas may even need repainting, and only minor items need replacement.

To help prevent space heater fires, start by choosing the right one for your home. These appliances run on electricity, natural gas, or kerosene, and each type is recommended for use in different settings. Newer models have more safety features, so stick to these. Among these features is a safety switch in case the unit tips over. It lets the space heater turn off automatically if it tips, which helps prevent a fire.

Treat space heaters like candles. They should never run while unattended. If you leave the room, turn them off and keep about three feet of space around them. Operate them on a stable, level surface so avoiding tipping by passing pets or people. You also want to avoid putting the heater near curtains, furniture, or anything else flammable. Nothing should be on top of the heater, and do not hang clothing on it to dry. Learn more about space heater safety from the Chicago Fire Department.

Fire Causes More than Just Fire Damage

Whenever dealing with fire damage, heat and smoke are both elements that can ruin items inside your home. Not all fires that burn on Chicago properties destroy the entire structure. Many times, the burns are much more minor, but they still can cause many issues with your contents and building materials. Even the most minor burns can create many problems including smoke-related issues. Smoke can solidify in the form of soot residues and cause unappealing smells to become present inside your structure. When anything torches inside your living area you should call in a professional disaster restoration company like SERVPRO.

Even minor to moderate fires can cause heat and smoke related issues.

During any fire damage project in Chicago, soot removal and deodorization are major parts of the process. If anything burns inside your home, our SERVPRO technicians start with removing the severely burnt materials. Next, we clean any soot residues that remain on the surface of your building materials or contents. If unpleasant, burnt aromas still exist after these first two steps, we can take further steps to get rid of these foul odors.

When dealing with different situations, our highly trained team at SERVPRO knows how to distinguish between minor, moderate, and heavy smoke odors. Moderate smoke odor situations exist when there are smoke residues present on both horizontal and vertical surfaces. In these cases, structural damage may be present, but it is confined to a single room or limited area of the home.

In these situations, vapor diffusers and crystals may get used including other odor control techniques like a thorough cleaning of your house's HVAC system. We may also apply vapor crystals to your attic's insulation and the forced air furnace systems. We then complete thermal fogging procedures if we deem it necessary. Whatever the case is, we strive to eliminate all odors, so its “Like it never even happened.” If you ever need help with smoke or fire-related problems call in SERVPRO of West Loop / Bucktown / Greektown at (773) 434-9100.