If you’re a victim of a house fire, chances are, you’d be pretty shell-shocked and might be unable to process what you should do next. It’s understandable, because house fires are devastating, regardless of if it burned down your entire house or just a portion of it.
There’s definitely no good enough alternative to doing everything you can to prevent a house fire from happening. Still, no matter how prepared you are, some factors that are outside your control may still cause house fires. To help you cope with the aftermath if ever this happens to you, we’ve listed down the things you should definitely do after a fire hits your home.
- Attend to your frightened loved ones and pets.
The safety and emotional stability of your family and pets should be your priority during this trying time. Seek comfort in each other and assure yourselves that for as long as no one was hurt, everything will fall back into place soon. Your pets won’t be able to understand what’s going on but they will definitely be afraid so you must also learn how to calm them down with your family.
- Call your fire department and get clearance before re-entering your home.
Even when authorities have successfully put out the fire in your home, that doesn’t mean it’s safe to go back inside. Usually, you need to inform the fire department of your intention to re-enter your fire-razed home. Then, officials would have to evaluate if it’s safe to come back.
Only when you get proper clearance from the fire department should you try to get back inside your dwelling place. You might get injured by falling debris or you could still burn yourself in certain parts of the home.
Once you get permission, then you can scavenge things from the house that could still be salvaged. Often, these would be metal items like pots and pans and items of value or sentimental items. If you’re not sure about how to clean up after the fire, then it’s best to contact a professional and seek help.
- Contact family members to inform them of the situation.
Now that you’ve presumably gotten a better picture of the incident, it’s time to talk to your parents or other relatives that might be worried or unaware of the fire. Most likely, if it’s a big house fire, news agencies would have already reported it to the public so your family might be well-aware that your home was involved in a fire.
At this point, you have a certain responsibility to report to your relatives and closest friends about your current situation so they can also figure out ways to help you get through this seemingly insurmountable challenge.
- Notify your home insurance company immediately.
Your home and contents insurance provider would most likely have a set grace period that mandates you to report a fire immediately for them to cover it. The sooner they know, the better; and the faster they can help you get back on your feet by helping you pay for renovations and replacements.
- Talk to a fire restoration company.
Now, your insurance company may help you finance restoration work, but you need a separate professional like a Kansas City fire damage restoration firm to help you bring your precious home back to life. They might not be able to bring back certain heirlooms and treasures that have succumbed to the fire, but at the very least, they can salvage the foundation of your home’s structure so that you don’t have to move to a new home. In a nutshell, they will help you save everything that can still be saved from the rubble.
- Call your utility providers and tell them what happened.
Depending on the gravity of the fire that hit your house, it might have damaged cables, wires, and pipes that are bringing basic utilities to your home. Your providers should be made aware of this as soon as possible so they can inspect the extent of the damage and make sure that it won’t affect anyone else in the area or cause another fire in the coming weeks. It is best to call Fireproofing contractor in DC to ensure the safety of everyone.
Informing your utility providers of what happened will also allow them to freeze your billing period and waive any charges that may accrue while you’re still unable to utilize their services, thus easing your worries a little bit as you try to recover from such a devastating incident.
Word to the wise: commit these steps to memory. We all like to think we can remain rational, calm, and collected when faced with something as traumatizing as a fire, but we actually have no idea how our bodies and minds will react if it should ever happen to us. It’s better to train your mind to know exactly what to do since no tragedy will ever be so insurmountable to the prepared man.
Hi, I am Subhajit Khara a lifestyle blogger. Besides blogging, I like to play cricket and watch CR7 playing. You can reach out to me at wittythink.com
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