There simply is no other household emergency phenomenon that can parallel the devastation brought about by fires. Not only do households and businesses have to contend with the immediate threat of fires and its resulting fire damage, they have to contend with the far-reaching consequences of smoke damage.
Homeowners and business owners alike can literally have their dreams burned down to the ground in a matter of minutes. Even with good intentions, no amount of prevention can adequately address the ferocity of fire as one of nature’s most destructive forces. When fire strikes, it does strike without warning and at a pace that only a jackrabbit can surpass.
Fire damage, without question, is a phenomenon that had deep economic repercussions on the future prospects of businesses as well as the continued existence of the American family.
A Fiery Picture
The damages on a burned structure, whether completely or partially, is often described in economic terms. Year in and year out, more than one and a half million fires are reported across the United States resulting to thousands of lives lost, tens of thousands injured, and damages in the tens of billions US dollars.
More than a quarter of these fires are fires to residential properties. What is more surprising is that the number of residential fire deaths represented 84% of the total fire deaths. The number of persons injured in domestic residential fires also accounted for 79% of the total number of fire injuries. On the average, residential home losses to fire damage reached USD 6 billion.
In the 1.6 million registered fire incidents in 2007 alone, 3430 civilians lost their lives because of fires while 17675 others were seriously hurt. One hundred eighteen professional fire fighters lost their lives in the line of duty, battling out a natural phenomenon that has killed more Americans than all the natural disasters combined. The total cost of fire damage was placed at USD 14.6 billion, USD 733 million of which were due to arson.
What is so dramatic about these figures is that they could potentially be greater because of the possibility of underreporting or even failure to report a fire incident.
The reported fire incidents included fire damage brought about by candle incidents, clothes dryer overheating, dysfunctional smoke and fire alarms, unattended electric and stove top grills, short circuited heating devices, kitchen fires, mattress and bedding combustion, faulty electrical wiring, and dysfunctional air conditioning and portable heating systems, among others.
The Need for Prevention
Although it is often questionable whether preventive measures do have an impact on the incidence of residential and commercial fires, the mere knowledge that something has been done to effectively reduce the likelihood that fires will occur is enough motivation for stakeholders to institute fire damage prevention strategies.
Notwithstanding the costs involved in the management of an actual fire as well as the additional expenses needed for the fire damage cleanup and restoration that ensues, preventive measures are geared towards the inhibition of the interaction among the three fundamental elements of fire. These include the presence of a heating agent, an adequate supply of organic matter that serves as the fuel load, and the free mixing of oxygen molecules in the reaction.
At the heart of this renewed effort to curb down the incidence of residential fires is the United States Fire Administration under the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Together with other government agencies, local community fire and emergency resources, and media and safety interest groups fire prevention and fire safety education programs are provided in order to reduce the loss of life from fire-related threats. These educational programs address a variety of fire related concerns such as fire prevention and safety for children and the elderly, arson incidents, role of smoking in fires, as well as public service announcement features in every American community.
However, the Federal government cannot do it all alone. Individual homeowners and businesses should do their part in preventing fire-related incidents and its associated fire damage.
1. Teach every member of the household how to call for professional help in case you are not around. It pays to run a mock fire and emergency drill in your home with each member playing a certain role. School age children can already be taught the basic things to do in cases of fire emergencies.
2. Invest in a good and reliable fire extinguisher and place it in the part of the house where it is readily accessible in case of fire. You may ask your fire damage professional on which fire extinguisher will work best for your type of home.
3. Invest in a home insurance coverage that can give you adequate protection in case of fire and other household incidents. Double check the provisions of your insurance policy and make sure that these run parallel to what you seek.
4. Call in a professional electrician to service your electrical wirings in the house as well as the other appliances and devices that run on electricity. You can learn from their initial diagnostic assessments and can perform these activities yourself for succeeding maintenance checks.
5. Replace all worn out sockets, plugs, electrical wirings as well as fixtures which might be cause for accidental fires. Look at the average lifespan of these materials and fixtures and immediately replace them if they only have several months to go.
6. Use energy-saving fixtures that will not only allow you to enjoy greater savings these are also a lot safer to use.
7. Know the contact numbers of professional companies that offer a variety of fire damage cleanup and restoration services. Make sure that they are located within thirty minutes of your home and that they also provide adequate emergency board up services. This is very important in the provision of temporary structural support to the different parts of the house should it be engulfed in flames.
When the Real Deal Strikes
The effectiveness of all these pro-active efforts will be tested in the event of a residential fire. Should it happen, and given that you have prepared adequately for this, the only thing you need to do now is to make sure you carry out your fire plan to the letter.
What makes fire so interestingly complex to manage is that, no matter how prepared the individual is, he may not actually be psychologically prepared to carry out these plans once faced with the real deal. As such, planning how to prevent fires and how to act in case it does occur will only be effective insomuch as the person is able to maintain presence of mind and decisiveness in his actions.
Unfortunately, there are no clear cut guidelines on how you should think and act in the face of danger. What predominates is our instinct of preservation – that is, we often take flight from the threat.
Given that you were able to carry out essentially everything, or even part of, that you have planned, there is actually nothing left to do than wait for professional firefighters and fire damage cleanup professionals carry out their respective tasks. Only then can you enter your fire ravaged home and start mulling about how and where you are going to start.
When the Flames Die
One common mistake of homeowners of fire damage homes is that they immediately enter once the fire is put out. Majority of the injuries sustained by family members had been in the cleanup phase immediately after the fire.
1. Allow the professional fire damage company to provide emergency board up first on the different structures of the burned home. This is to make sure that it is safe to enter the burned premises without worry of possible building collapse.
2. Allow these same professionals to conduct a thorough diagnostic assessment of the integrity of your home through digital thermal imaging scans to identify problematic areas that may require further supportive measures. Such problem areas are often board up or condemned altogether.
3. Only with the go-signal of these professional technicians will you get to enter your fire damaged home and salvage whatever personal belongings you can still save. Rummage through the debris and sort out things you can clean and restore yourself and segregate items that only professional grade cleaning and restoration can provide.
4. Contact your home insurance agent and ask for the application of your policy in the fire incident. Your professional fire damage company can also assist you in the required documentation of the fire incident.
5. Cooperate with fire investigators who will be conducting inquiries on the nature of the fire incident. Remember that they are not here to persecute you for the fire but rather they would like to understand how the fire occurred so that preventive measures can be taken in similar circumstances.
The Economics of Fire Damage
Fire and fire damage can readily result to loss of life, limb, and property. Never mind if the whole business is burned to the ground so long as no one is hurt nor a life is smitten. This is perhaps the central idea of looking at the economics of fire and fire damage.
No amount of wealth can ever replace the value of human life lost in the sea of fire.
