Three Helpful Steps When Dealing With Fire Damage

At some point in our lives we are all taught to ‘Stop, Drop, and Roll’ if the instance of catching on fire ever occurred. While the statistic for people catching on fire remains relatively low, the statistic for homes catching on fire is unfortunately higher. In fact, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), there are more than 350,000 home fires each year in the United States. While the three step process of stop, drop and roll can and will help save your life if you do, by some very unlucky circumstance, find yourself on fire, those steps will not help when it comes to your St. Paul home catching on fire. Instead, here are three helpful steps you can take if you find yourself dealing with a fire and fire damage in your home.

Fire Damage In St. Paul

1. Make sure you have a fire escape plan for your home, and working fire detectors in each room. When a smoke alarm goes off and alerts you that there is a fire, your escape plan needs to be initiated. An effective fire escape plan should designate two escape routes for each room of the home, and also designate a safe meeting place outside the home where family members can reconvene and ensure everyone has made it out safely. The number one priority with any house fire is to ensure everyone in the home is safe, and a fire escape plan greatly increases the odds of a quick and successful exit of the inhabitant. Go over the plan with all members of the household, and review it regularly so that each member is familiar with it and prepared to respond in an emergency. It is also important to ensure fire detectors are working correctly and batteries are changed regularly so that you can be alerted to a fire as soon as possible. 
2. Alert emergency response personnel right away. Once everyone is safely out of the home (priority number one), the next goal is to minimize damages as much as possible. The best way to do that is to get the fire extinguished, but you should never attempt to do so yourself. Even small fires that appear to be manageable and contained can grow and escalate very quickly, so your time is much better spent getting you and your loved ones out of the home and calling 911 for help. If you have any information pertinent to the origin of the fire, let the firefighters know as this can help drastically increase the odds of getting the fire extinguished quickly and mitigating further damage. 
3. Do not attempt to handle fire damage on your own. Call ICC Restoration & Cleaning Services as soon as the fire has been extinguished. Fire damage is complex, and trying to clean and restore it on your own can actually make matters worse. Instead, you can trust your home to our fire damage experts at ICC who will make sure to safely and thoroughly get rid of smoke odor, soot, and all the other problems associated with fire damage. Our certified and experienced team will restore your home following fire damage in St. Paul so you can focus on you and your family during one of life’s most difficult trials.