Managing the Aftermath of a Fire
Once the Fire Department Leaves, Your Work Has Just Begun By Scott Clemente | ServPro
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ur company recently began restoration services on a home damaged by a significant kitchen fire. The morning after it happened I walked the property with the homeowner to scope out the project and get the necessary paperwork signed. I then went to another meeting and returned to my office about three hours later. In the three hours I was out, eight different people had left me messages relating to the fire. There was a message from the Fire Marshall telling me that they had released the scene, one from the homeowner’s insurance company and one from the HOA’s insurance company. Then there were messages from the independent adjusters each company had assigned, one from a cause and origin specialist and one from the community manager asking for a status update. Finally there was one from the homeowner with some follow-up questions from our meeting. The point is that managing the aftermath of a fire loss is a complex job. Many are stakeholders involved, plus an emotional family who has probably just lost some of its most important possessions. If not properly prepared, the job of managing the restoration and rebuild can overwhelm you as a community manager and become a full time job on its own. To avoid this pitfall it is important to have a plan and system in place before a fire happens. To do that, there are two areas to focus on: Prevention to keep a fire from happening and then the Response plan to limit the damage to your customers’ homes and the disruption to their lives.
Prevention It is easy to put the idea of a fire in the category of “Well that would never happen here,” but the reality is fires happen every single day in Minnesota. According to the State Fire Marshall’s report, in 2013, there were 6,330 structural fires in the state which caused over $220 million of property damage. To put that in perspective, that is over $600,000 of damage caused every single day! As a community manager, there are several things you can do to help prevent becoming part of these statistics:
1 Educate Homeowners:
This can be as simple as putting an insert in community newsletters that outlines a safety checklist or providing seasonal information (keeping Christmas trees well watered).
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Minnesota Communit y Living
a fire officer to come address the 2 community: Invite
Local fire departments will be more than happy to send out a department member to talk to your community about the dangers of fire and how to be prepared.
your grounds so that if a fire occurs 3 itMaintain doesn’t move from building to building:
Make sure there is a buffer between the buildings so the fire can’t “jump.” To do this, remove any large bushes or trees that are up against multiple buildings. Trim down any large bushes that have become overgrown and prune branches that are within six feet of any rooftops. Finally, any dead trees should be removed from the property as soon as possible.
Response Despite your best efforts, fires will still happen. When they do, your response will go a long way to not only helping your customers but displaying your value as the community manager. There are several things you will need to address in the aftermath:
1 Mitigation/Restoration Vendors:
Companies like ours will respond to a fire to begin mitigation and restoration efforts as soon as possible. This includes everything from restoring the contents, clothes and electronics for the homeowners to cleaning and restoring the structure. In choosing a vendor, you should consider: Response Capabilities — Do they have the resources to respond to a loss regardless of the size? Do they have the ability to secure the property via a board-up if needed? Response Time — How quickly will they be on site in the event of a fire? Customer References — Who have they worked with in the past and how have they performed? On-site Technicians — Who will be showing up on site at your customers’ homes? Are they full-time employees or does the company use temporary laborers? Are they certified in Fire & Smoke restoration by the IICRC? Once you have chosen your vendors, make sure it is clear who the contact person is and that they are personally available 24/7. You don’t want to be dealing with a call center at two in the morning after the fire department leaves.