Why You Might Need Secondary Fire Damage Restoration

Ryker Bingham | Jun 01, 2023

When you return to your property after a fire to pick up the pieces, the damage can leave you heartbroken. Your first priority might be replacing burnt items, but you can’t turn a blind eye to the deeper risks of secondary fire damage. Why do you need fire damage restoration for this secondary damage?

Here’s why fire damage restoration for secondary fire damage is warranted:

The damage will get worse the longer it goes unchecked
Smoke and soot exposure can cause many health maladies
Mold can develop
Water damage can make your home uninhabitable

Secondary fire damage is a slap in the face after the initial round of damage, but you must mitigate it right away before it wreaks further havoc. Keep reading so you can take action.

The Damage Will Get Worse the Longer It Goes Unchecked

The fire might have been long extinguished, but the damage it caused can continue unchecked for hours to weeks after the firefighters leave the scene.

The residues from soot and smoke are especially dangerous. They can cause health risks, which we’ll discuss in more detail momentarily, and also destroy what beauty remains of your home.

These substances will stain surfaces, alter fabric textures, and diminish surface finishes. Metal can corrode from smoke and soot exposure, and chemical reactions from the fire and secondary damage can destroy synthetics.

The smell of smoke can linger for long periods, sometimes months, as it can burrow deep into surfaces, all the way down to the tiniest crevices.

These problems don’t get better with time, but worse. You can prevent a lot of this secondary fire damage by contacting a fire restoration team as soon as you’re allowed back into your home.

Smoke and Soot Exposure Can Cause Many Health Maladies

You’re surely familiar with secondhand smoke, but what about thirdhand smoke? It refers to lingering contamination from smoke.

The term usually refers to cigarette smoke but can include smoke from a fire. The smoke settles on all sorts of surfaces, from carpets to bedding, drapes, furniture, and clothing. If you become nose blind to the smell of smoke, you might not even notice it.

The risks of thirdhand smoke are dangerous, from respiratory illness to heart disease and cancer. The residual smoke can affect all household members, including your pets.

Soot exposure can be even more disadvantageous, leading to health issues such as coronary heart disease, bronchitis, asthma, and cancer, explains Frontiers in Immunology.

If you live with the elderly or family members with asthma and/or allergies, they will feel the effects of soot in your home the most.

Mold Can Develop

Secondary fire damage isn’t solely limited to smoke and soot. Water damage is likely to occur from the firefighting efforts, bringing with it its own unpleasant set of circumstances.

The warm, damp environment that your home has become is a hotbed for mold. The fungi can propagate on various surfaces, from floors to walls, furniture, ceilings, carpeting, and fabric of nearly any kind.

The symptoms of mold exposure can mimic a common cold or allergy attack, leading to fatigue, headache, breathing issues, wheezing, coughing, itching, sneezing, runny nose, and watery eyes.

Some forms of mold can even be deadly.

Water Damage Can Make Your Home Uninhabitable

On the note of water damage, when it is severe enough, there’s also the risk that you might be unable to occupy your home.

Untreated water damage can erode and even destroy the foundation of your home. Wood can rot and warp, weakening the structure. Any mold you treat will continue to reoccur until you address the cause, further compounding damage and degrading your health.

Further, water damage is expensive the longer you wait to remediate it. As water has more time to seep into surfaces, its destructive footprint is more severe, so it costs more to rebuild your home to its former glory.

Conclusion

Secondary fire damage can sometimes be worse than the first round, at least for your health. The lingering fire damage retains smoke and soot that settles into surfaces, causing stains and finish damage. The unclean air quality in your home could put you at risk of serious illness from soot and smoke, even cancer.

Water damage and mold only make matters worse, as your already ailing lungs could be in even shoddier shape by breathing in moldy air.

Fire damage restoration professionals can assess your home shortly after secondary fire damage happens. This will contain the damage, preventing further spread that can lead to more extensive repairs.