Cooking is one of the most common causes of house and kitchen fires. Cooking fires can cause extensive damage to your kitchen. Preventing kitchen fires begins with taking the right safety precautions and knowing how to respond when a fire occurs. If the damage isn’t too extensive to clean up yourself, you can use these tips to help you clean up after a fire has happened. If the damage is still more than you can handle, contact a fire damage restoration company.

Reacting to Kitchen Fire Damage: What You Need to Know

1 - Take Safety Precautions

Even if you're just cooking a small meal, always use pot holders when touching hot pans and kitchen appliances. Keep your unused stove knobs turned all the way off when you're cooking. Make sure that you shut any nearby doors and windows when you're cooking.

Keep a fire extinguisher in your kitchen. Make sure that your fire extinguisher is three years or newer and has a tag attached to it that shows that it's been inspected. You can also purchase a dry chemical or foam fire extinguisher for your kitchen.

2 - Take Proper Documentation of the Damage

If you have a kitchen fire, make sure that you take photos of the fire damage. Take photos of the areas around the fire, as well as photos of any personal property that was damaged. Take photos of the smoke and soot damage, as well as any water damage.

Keep all receipts from your cleanup. You'll need to prove that you cleaned up the damage and how much it costs to do so.

3 - Cleaning Up the Fire Damage

You should clean up any smoke damage first. Use a vacuum to clean up any soot or ash that is left behind. Be careful not to spread the smoke damage over a wider area.

Use a wet cloth to clean any soot and ash off of your walls. If you remove too much drywall, you may need to contact a drywall repair company to have it replaced. Keep your vacuum handy so that you can vacuum up any ash that lands on the floor.

If you don't have a wall-mounted smoke detector, you should have one installed right away. The earlier you install a smoke detector, the greater the chance that you will prevent a fire from occurring.

4 - Get Professional Help

Contact a restoration company to have your walls and ceilings repaired. You can also ask a fire damage restoration company to clean and sanitize your kitchen. You should hire a fire damage restoration company to clean your appliances, cabinets, and flooring.

If your damage is larger than you can handle alone, contact a fire damage restoration company to help you repair your kitchen and other affected parts of your home.

Conclusion

Kitchen fires are common and can be hard to repair. If you take the right safety precautions and know how to react to fire damage, you can prevent fires from happening and keep your kitchen in good condition. Contact a fire damage restoration company if your kitchen has been damaged by smoke or fire.

Should you be in need of fire damage restoration, contact Swift Restoration. We offer mold remediation, water, fire, and storm damage restoration services.