Kitchen Fire What to Throw Away

A kitchen fire and damage from oil on the stove, a faulty appliance, or electrical issues, can be devastating. Kitchen fires usually start suddenly and spread quickly. After the fire department has come and put the fire out, you are usually left with picking up the pieces and wondering what to do next.
Your insurance agent and fire damage restoration company will help you with these details,. It’s good to know what items are salvageable and what should be tossed–for the safety of you, your family, and pets. Below is a list of items to throw away immediately.

Perishable Food Items Left at Room Temp

Use your judgement here. If your refrigerator wasn’t damaged in the fire, and its power was off for less than four hours, there’s a good chance that everything in your fridge can be salvaged. However, if your fridge was burned or covered in soot, or if the power was turned off for more than four hours, there is a higher chance that your food inside may have spoiled. Throw out food right away, if the inside of your refrigerator smells smoky, soot is inside the fridge, items in your fridge were above 40 degrees for more than two hours, or if food in the freezer is no longer cold. Throw anything out that has a weird or off smell.

Burnt Clothes

An inspector will usually walk through your home to help you determine if any of your clothes, tapestries, furniture, and other items are salvageable. Many items can be disinfected and cleaned by professionals, making them like new. However, if any items are burnt, it is safer to throw them away. If you have any baby or children’s items like bedding or clothing, exercise even stricter judgement when deciding what to keep. In most cases, it’s better to toss and buy new than to risk your child’s health.

Bathroom Items Exposed to Soot and Heat

Even though different rooms in your home may not have been as badly affected as your kitchen, soot and smoke may still have traveled to different parts of your house. Any medications or cosmetic that you own that may have been exposed to high heat, firefighting chemicals, soot, smoke damage, or fire extinguisher dust throw away. You may see a residue on your makeup bag, or your blush container may be warped. These are signs that the integrity of these products have been compromised. If you keep these, and your medicine or make up contains soot or firefighting chemicals, you risk poisoning, skin damage, or worse. Always err on the side of caution when it comes to consumable products affected by fire.

Fire in the Kitchen? Let Our Fire Restoration Company Do the Work for You

Alpha Omega is a fully certified restoration company serving Billings, MT and the surrounding areas. When repairing the damage after a house fire, you’ll want to have the restoration company do all the work. This is so that it’s done correctly without the possibility of further problems creeping up in the future.  Alpha Omega Disaster Restoration is a full general contractor with those appropriate certifications. Call Alpha Omega Disaster Restoration for a inspection and assessment of your fire damage.

Our crew is on call 24/7. We’ll come to assess the situation, document the damage, and work with your insurance adjuster to provide you the fastest and best fire restoration possible. With our help you can focus on your family. We’ll worry about restoring your physical property to its pre-disaster state. When we’re done, all traces of destruction will be gone. You’ll be left with a safe and comfortable home.