| 1. Safety First | | | | 6. Save Plants |
| Before ever entering a building that has experienced | | | | If you had any plants or plant life in or around your |
| fire or water damage, you need to be sure the | | | | home during the fire, they will need to be cleaned off |
| structure is safe. Do not take your own word for it, | | | | as well to prevent soot from killing them. Take a |
| always have a professional tell you if the structure is | | | | clean, damp wash cloth and wipe down every leaf |
| sound. Do not let children or pets anywhere near the | | | | and or branch thoroughly. Bigger plants can be |
| structure, for their own safety. Turn off water and | | | | sprayed off with a hose first, just be sure to |
| electricity before entering the structure as well, but | | | | remove all fire debris. |
| bring a flashlight. | | | | 7. Dry Clean |
| 2. Protect Yourself | | | | Clothes, linens, and other textiles exposed to smoke |
| If you do enter, wear goggles, gloves, boots and a | | | | will have a very strong odor after the fire that will |
| face mask to protect your lungs from lingering debris | | | | not come out with regular washing. Call dry cleaners |
| in the air. If there is a lot of damage, you may also | | | | in your area to see if any of them specialize in |
| want to wear protective clothing, to protect your | | | | removing fire smoke odors and stains. Regular dry |
| self from sharp, broken objects you mat encounter. | | | | cleaning will not get the job done, and dry cleaning is |
| 3. Save your Pets! | | | | not cheap, so be sure they have the solvents and |
| If there are any pets remaining in the home, get | | | | materials required to clean your things. |
| them out. If you have fish that survived the fire, | | | | 8. Ventilate the Area |
| change their water promptly to save them. If you | | | | As soon as you have re-entered the damaged area, |
| own birds, very carefully wipe any soot or debris off | | | | open all doors and windows to ventilate the area. |
| of their feathers, and the same with and rodents or | | | | You may need to leave your windows open for |
| other pets. Be sure to wash all pet toys, pens, | | | | several days as you continue the restoration process, |
| cages, and food dishes as well. | | | | so that the area is as aired out as possible. |
| 4. Debris Control | | | | 9. Throw Out Food |
| If there is a lot of debris throughout the house, it | | | | Any open food that was exposed to fire or smoke |
| heightens health risks because of dust particles. Use a | | | | needs to be thrown out. If there was any smoke or |
| hose, or buckets of water to wet down the debris | | | | soot in your fridge or freezer, that food will need to |
| and make them less dangerous. you will need to get | | | | be thrown out too. Carefully observe every food |
| them wet to clean them out anyways, but the | | | | item you do keep before ingesting, as it can be very |
| sooner the better for health reasons. | | | | hazardous to your health to ingest soot. |
| 5. Clean and Remove Debris | | | | 10. Do not use appliances |
| Once wet, you can start to remove debris from the | | | | Appliances of any kind that were exposed to the fire |
| floor and off objects. Do not try and clean debris off | | | | should not be used again until they have been |
| of walls yet, as the ash will make it very difficult and | | | | properly observed and cleaned out. Smoke and soot |
| you may make things work. If you can not hire a | | | | that get in to appliances can cause them to |
| professional to clean up, be sure to do thorough | | | | malfunction, and possibly cause yet another fire, |
| research on cleaning fire debris. | | | | which you certainly do not need. |