A fire disaster can be traumatizing, and it can leave you feeling helpless. Fire victims are often at a loss on what to do next. And it’s not because of shock or overwhelming emotions. While we genuinely hope that you never find yourself dealing with fire damage, you need to prepare for it. Accidents and misfortune strike without warning. It is best to be ready for them. Here are some valuable tips on how to deal with the aftermath and begin the fire damage recovery process on your home.
1. Get in Touch With Your Insurance Agent as Soon as Possible
One of the first phone calls you need to make should be to your insurance provider. Before you start planning ways on how to deal with the damage, inform your agent of the incident so you can go over the details of your fire damage recovery insurance coverage.
Most importantly, don’t forget to advise the agent of your immediate fire damage recovery plans. Wait for the insurance company’s signal before taking any action.
2. Ask For a Copy of the Fire Damage Report
A fire damage report contains the critical details surrounding and contributing to the fire incident. It also includes necessary information such as the date and time, the location, and an account of the damage. All this data is essential to your insurance claim.
Fire damage reports are public documents, so you shouldn’t have any problem requesting a copy during recovery.
3. Start the Mitigation Process
Fire damage can continue to endanger lives and cause damage to a property even after the fire is put out. Weakened structures can cave in, damaged pipes can burst, and more.
It’s important to start fire damage mitigation as soon as possible, but this is not something that you should do on your own. Let a local fire damage mitigation company take care of that for you.
4. Keep a Record of All the Damaged Items
Homeowners insurance usually includes contents coverage, which means your policy will also cover the replacement cost of items destroyed in the fire. Insurers typically ask for an inventory of personal properties damaged during the fire.
To ensure that everything is accounted for, create a register of your belongings, and document your losses. If you lost important documents in the fire – driver’s license, passport, birth certificates, deeds, and title, etc. – you’ll have to replace them immediately.
5. Clean the Property
Fire disasters often leave the property looking dark, stained, and scorched. Thus, the fire damage cleanup and restoration crew usually spends the first phase of the cleanup scrubbing soot, smoke, and dust that stuck on the surfaces.
Another critical issue that fire damage restoration professionals address is the odor. When smoke enters a room, it usually leaves behind an unpleasant stench that tends to stick on walls, carpets, upholstery, etc. Areas directly affected by the fire and the rooms nearby have to be cleaned and deodorized.
6. Start the Fire Damage Recovery Process
Rebuilding a home after a fire can be very costly. As such, you need to document all the repair and replacement expenses to prove the extent of your fire damage loss and recovery costs. The claims process will move quicker if you’ve got all the requirements ready. You can ask your restoration and recovery contractor for help.
Some fire damage recovery companies, however, can do more than just restore the property. They also offer renovation services, so your home ends up looking even better than it did before.
