When your home is on fire

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How to prevent fires at home. Have your heating system serviced regularly by a professional , including chimneys from wood-burning fireplaces. Clean around heat sources and keep dust and other flammable items away from ignition sources.

What Really Happens in a House Fire

Remove lint from your dryer filter after every use. A clogged filter and lint trap make your dryer less efficient, reduces the airflow needed to keep heat from building up in vents, and forces lint onto the heating coils. Keep firewood, piles of leaves and garbage away from the home. If a grass fire starts nearby, these items next to your home could easily become kindling.

Never dump hot ashes inside or near your home; keep them in a metal container well away from your house and garage. Avoid using outlet extenders or plug-in power bars: Replace old, damaged or frayed appliance cords, and never force a three-pronged plug into a two-slot outlet or extension cord. Store containers of cooking oil well away from the stove. When cooking with oil, never leave the stove unattended. To stop a grease fire, turn off the burner and place a lid on the pan to suffocate the flames, or pour on lots of baking soda.

Never pour water on a grease fire or try to carry the pan outside; water splatters the grease and makes the fire bigger, and the pan will be much too hot to carry. Be sure to properly extinguish smoking materials. Smoking materials that are not properly extinguished can smoulder undetected for days before igniting a fire. Never discard smoking materials on the ground or in plant pots. Here are a few simple precautions to keep your home safer: Water potted plants regularly.

Make sure the soil around your potted plants stays moist. Soil in pots dries out faster than soil in garden beds. Other factors to be aware of include: Recognize that if a house or building is too badly damaged, you may not be allowed back inside at all. Know who to call after a fire.

Contact family members that may not have been with you. Let them know what happened, let them know that everybody is okay if so and let them know the information that is necessary. After a house fire, don't assume that someone is going to contact your insurance. This is the number one thing that you need to do.

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This will not only enable documentation of the event and set in train the insurance claim but your insurer will be able to talk you through emergency lodging and living expenses. Remember to retain all receipts to make a claim. Anyone who you feel that could be helpful to you, not necessarily just an insurance company but it could be other things involved, such as the contents of your home and you need to contact a particular help group or business etc.

For example, American Red Cross offers services to those who have lost their home. Understand what happens with a "fire report". A fire report will discuss what structure the house was in, what area was involved, the time of the incident, the date of the incident and it will have an incident number if it comes through a fire department. This enables the fire department to know all the specifics of who was there and what resources were there, to assist in gathering a lot more information. Know how to get a copy of a fire report. You may be able to call the fire department for a copy.

If arson is involved, the Arson Unit or equivalent will probably be able to get this information to you. If you have not already being told to do so, it is important to secure your property to prevent possible looting. Talk to emergency services on how best to go about this.

Most insurance policies require this. Consider the clean up requirements. If your house has been damaged rather than destroyed, interior clean up will be required. Keep in mind that damage to the property often goes beyond what the eye can see.

Removal of a destroyed house should only be done by professionals. You should spend a little time assessing whether you think you can perform the clean up or if you'll need professional cleaners. You will find it useful to discuss this with your insurance company. Consider such things as: The types of damage including soot, ash, charring, smoke, odor, etc. Damage to a single room - this may be something you can manage yourself Extensive damage - leave it alone and call in the professionals [4].

How to prevent fires at home

Know how to handle smoke and soot damage after a fire. If you do make the decision to clean up yourself, be aware that soot and smoke damage might be significant and often creates a film on the walls. There will also be residue from the extinguishers used by the fire crew. Soot - while there are many cleaning products available on the market, one of the most common is "TSP" or tri-sodium phosphate. Mix it with water according to the instructions and use a sponge. Wipe down the walls and let it dry.

Extinguisher residue - use a shop hired vacuum to remove the residue and any remaining dry soot. Even if it is freezing cold outside, let small bursts of fresh air circulate through. Send the kids to a friend's house for a bit while this is happening. They should not be around anyway, for fear of the potential for ingestion of chemical particles or other particles that might damage young lungs and immune systems. If water hoses were used to put out your fire drying your home is very important.

How to Know What to Do Following a House Fire: 10 Steps

Water damage can lead to more damage or even mold if not dried properly. Insurance companies will often have approved restoration contractors that you can call for board up, structural drying, contents cleaning and structural cleaning and repair. BBB and Angie's List are also good places to find trustworthy contractors. Seek counseling if needed and reassure children. Having your house damaged or destroyed by fire is extremely traumatic and can have lasting impacts on each family member, depending on his or her ability to cope. Common feelings are helplessness, disorientation, pining for belongings, deep sadness , a sense of deprivation, despair and a loss of routine and structure.

Reassure each other and let the emotions happen. Keep a close eye on children and be truthful with them about what has happened and if you do not know what is going to happen next, at least reassure them that you have one another, that things can all be replaced and that the only way is up from here on. It can be as fast as 30 seconds for a house to be covered in black smoke so you can't breathe, and two minutes until it's so hot that everything combusts. Modern houses filled with modern materials tend to reach flashpoint much faster than older houses with older materials inside.

Prevent potting soil fires

Watch YouTube videos showing flashpoints to get a really good idea of how fast fire moves. Not Helpful 7 Helpful What is the best way to select a company to come and do clean-up? Do the insurance companies choose or do I have a say? Ask your insurance carrier who to use and search for yourself.

• What Really Happens in a House Fire | This Old House.
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Get estimates for property removal, cleaning, and storage. Ask for references to check their customers' experiences with their service. Ask your agent what your policy covers. Find out how the clean-up company will be paid: Be careful with items too damaged to clean, some companies will try anyway wasting your money. What if the fire started on the electric box in the house?

All in a Flash

Does the municipality fix the burnt house or what? No, even when fault can be assigned to a municipality, they are not going to give funds to help citizens recover.

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• What to do if there's a fire in your home?

It's an accepted risk we all unknowingly agreed to for city provided utilities, it's actually in the fine print we tend to not read when signing up for services.