Reasons To Assess Electronics After a Fire

2/11/2022 (Permalink)

A fire can cause damage to your electronics. Assessing the electronics is an important step of the fire cleanup process.

There are many ways that a fire can damage your home in Sandy, UT. Fire cleanup must happen in a timely manner, and it often involves both water damage and smoke damage mitigation. Some items, such as electronics, may not look like they are damaged, but the only way to tell for sure is to have them inspected by certified professionals. This assessment helps to identify the type of damage, whether it can be fixed and the steps needed to do so.

3 Reasons to Assess Your Electronics After a Fire

1. Type of Damage

You can't always tell if your electronics have smoke damage just by looking at them. Even if your computer, television and gaming system will turn on after a fire, that doesn't mean they're safe to use. Many things could be causing damage under the surface:

• Smoke particles
  
• Soot deposits
  
• Melted components
  
• Water damage
  

If smoke got inside the machine, it can leave a film behind that insulates the interior parts, causing them to overheat when it is used. Soot is highly acidic and thus can cause sensitive circuits to deteriorate. Without the aid of smoke restoration experts who can not only identify but also fix the problems, it is not a good idea to plug in your electronics or use them once they've been exposed to smoke.

2. Cleanup Process

It's important to get professional assistance when it comes to fire cleanup. Before technicians arrive, however, there may be some things you can do to stop or slow the damage that is happening. Wipe the outside surfaces down with a clean cloth to remove as much of the soot as possible. Remove the hard drive and the battery if it is safe to do so. This minimizes the risk of data loss or additional acid leaks.
The technicians start by inspecting the components of your equipment. They look for irreparable damage and assess whether the parts that cannot be cleaned can be replaced. Information retrieval often happens during this process unless the hard drive is so fried that everything is lost. As an added safety measure, the battery is likely to be replaced.

3. Loss Prevention

In the event of a fire, there is no guarantee that your electronics are not going to be damaged beyond repair. Any data saved on them may be lost, particularly if they are in the same room where the fire occurs. It's always a good practice to safeguard yourself from vast financial and information losses, even if the equipment used is lost.
Any expensive electronic item should always be insured through your homeowner's policy, the manufacturer's protection plan or both. It's also important to back up the information stored on your home computer, tablets and other devices on a regular basis. Invest in enough cloud storage for the whole family so that you don't lose any data even if the device gets ruined in the fire.

There are many steps to the fire cleanup process, and making sure that everything you bring back into your house when remediation is finished is ready to use again is a big part of it. This is especially important when it comes to your electronics. Wait until the technicians tell you they're safe to use before you turn them back on.