What To Do First After Fire Damage
After fire damage, safety should come first. If your home or business has structural damage, electrical concerns, smoke contamination, weakened ceilings, standing water, damaged flooring, unsafe air quality, or possible collapse risks, avoid unsafe areas until firefighters, inspectors, or local officials say it is safe to enter.
If it is safe to go back inside, take steps to protect the property from additional damage. This may include arranging emergency board-up, covering exposed areas, moving undamaged belongings away from affected rooms, or contacting a fire restoration company for emergency fire clean up services.
Before anything is removed, repaired, cleaned, or thrown away, document the damage. Photos and videos can help show the condition of the property before the fire restoration process begins.
What to document:
- Burned areas
- Smoke damage
- Soot-covered Walls/ Ceilings
- Damaged flooring
- Damaged Drywall
- Water Damage from firefighting efforts
- Damaged furniture
- Appliances/ Electronics
- Damaged Clothing/ Personal Items
- Damaged Inventory
- Damaged Tools/ Equipment
- Damaged personal or business property
The more complete your documentation is, the harder it may be for an insurance company to later argue that certain damage was not connected to the fire, was pre-existing, or was not serious enough to include in the claim.
Before the fire damage restoration process moves too far forward, it can help to get guidance on the insurance side of the recovery. This does not mean delaying emergency fire clean up, smoke damage clean up, board-up, or safety-related work. It means making sure your documentation, communication, and claim process are protected while the physical restoration begins.
DiMartino can help you understand what to save, what questions to ask, what paperwork to review carefully, and how to avoid letting the insurance company narrow the scope of fire damage restoration too early.
Who Calls the Restoration Company?
Many Highland property owners are unsure whether they should call the restoration company, wait for the insurance company, or speak with a contractor first. In some cases, the homeowner, landlord, or business owner calls directly because the property needs board-up, smoke removal, water extraction, debris removal, or fire damage clean up immediately. In other situations, the insurance company may recommend a preferred vendor, or a contractor may suggest bringing in a restoration team.
There is nothing wrong with getting emergency restoration help when the property needs it. SERVPRO and other restoration companies can play an important role in fire clean up, fire restoration cleaning, smoke damage cleaning, smoke remediation, soot removal, odor treatment, water extraction, debris removal, and repairs.
The key is understanding that each party has a different role. Restoration professionals address the physical fire damage, smoke damage, soot, odors, water damage, and damaged materials. The insurance company evaluates what it believes should be paid. Ashford DiMartino & Jones helps property owners protect the insurance recovery connected to the restoration work.
Before assuming the insurance company’s preferred vendor, first estimate, or initial inspection includes the full damage, it may help to have DiMartino review what is happening and make sure your fire damage claim is not being limited too early.
Working With Your Insurance Company
After fire damage, your insurance company may assign an adjuster, request documentation, inspect the property, review contractor or restoration estimates, and decide what it believes is covered. That process can feel official, but the insurance company’s first position is not always the complete picture.
Problems can arise when the adjuster misses smoke damage, undervalues soot damage, overlooks water damage from firefighting efforts, or approves basic fire clean up while refusing to pay for the full repair. This can happen with fire damage restoration, smoke damage cleaning, smoke remediation, odor removal, contents cleaning, emergency board-up, and commercial property losses.
Fire damage claims can also raise coverage questions. Depending on the policy and the cause of the loss, the insurance company may review home insurance fire coverage, replacement cost, temporary relocation, damaged contents, code upgrades, business interruption, and whether certain cleanup or restoration services are included.
Working with your insurance company does not mean accepting everything without question. You have the right to ask questions, review the estimate, compare it against restoration or contractor documentation, and get guidance before signing paperwork or settling the claim.
Ashford DiMartino & Jones helps property owners communicate with the insurance company, review claim documents, and identify when the insurance recovery may not match the actual fire damage.
Fire Damage Restoration Is More Than Cleanup
Fire damage restoration is often one of the first things people search for after a fire because the visible damage feels urgent. If rooms are burned, smoke odors are spreading, soot is covering surfaces, or water from firefighting efforts is affecting the property, cleanup and repairs may need to happen quickly.
But restoration is not only about removing burned materials or cleaning what is easy to see. It is also about creating a clear record of where the fire started, how far smoke traveled, what materials were affected, what repairs may be needed, and what the insurance company should consider when reviewing the claim.
If that record is incomplete, the insurance company may later argue that certain damage was unrelated, cosmetic, pre-existing, excluded, or not covered. That can leave the property owner paying for fire restoration cleaning, smoke removal service, odor treatment, contents cleaning, water extraction, or repairs that should have been included in the recovery.
This is why early guidance matters. DiMartino helps protect the insurance side of fire damage restoration while contractors and restoration companies focus on the physical cleanup and repair work.
Common Problems After Fire Damage
Fire damage claims do not always become difficult right away. Sometimes the problems appear slowly as cleanup, inspections, estimates, and repairs begin.
The insurance company may approve visible burn damage but deny related repairs. It may argue that smoke damage in other rooms is minor. It may question whether smoke remediation is necessary. It may dispute whether a smoke removal service is needed. It may approve emergency fire clean up but fail to include damaged flooring, drywall, cabinets, insulation, furniture, inventory, equipment, labor, materials, code requirements, overhead, or restoration costs needed to return the property to its pre-loss condition.
In a fire damage insurance claim, the insurer may agree that a fire occurred but dispute the full scope of the loss. It may also question whether all smoke, soot, odor, water, contents, and structural damage should be covered. For business owners, the claim may involve damaged inventory, interrupted operations, lost income, equipment replacement, tenant concerns, and the timeline needed to reopen.
These issues matter because a low estimate can shape the rest of the recovery. If the insurance company limits the scope early, fire damage restoration may become slower, harder, and more expensive for the property owner.
Why Documentation Matters Before Repairs Begin
Documentation is one of the most important parts of fire damage restoration. Photos, videos, estimates, invoices, inspection reports, cleaning logs, contents lists, contractor notes, air quality concerns, and communication records can all help show what happened and what repairs may be needed.
Before burned materials are removed, before damaged flooring is pulled up, before drywall is torn out, before smoke-damaged belongings are discarded, and before permanent repairs begin, the damage should be documented as thoroughly as possible. If emergency fire clean up services must begin right away, document as much as you can before and during that process.
Keep copies of everything connected to the restoration and insurance claim.
This includes:
- Insurance Letters
- Claim Numbers
- Adjuster Reports
- Contractor Estimates
- Restoration Invoices
- Emails
- Text Messages
- Receipts
- Cleaning Logs
- Photos from anyone who inspects the property
Ashford DiMartino & Jones can help review these materials and identify whether the insurance company’s estimate matches the documented fire damage, smoke damage, soot damage, water damage, contents damage, structural damage, and restoration needs.
Fire Damage Restoration for Homes and Businesses
Fire damage can affect homes, businesses, rental properties, apartment buildings, retail spaces, offices, warehouses, restaurants, and other commercial buildings throughout Highland, Lake County, and Northwest Indiana.
Homeowners may be dealing with burned rooms, smoke odors, soot-covered belongings, water damage from firefighting efforts, temporary relocation, damaged appliances, damaged furniture, and questions about home insurance fire coverage. Renters may have questions about damaged belongings, temporary housing, and what coverage may apply to personal property. Business owners may face damaged inventory, equipment loss, interrupted operations, lost income, tenant concerns, emergency cleanup, and pressure to reopen quickly.
Commercial fire damage claims can become especially complicated because the insurance company may dispute more than the physical damage. It may also question the cost of repair, the timeline for restoration, business interruption, lost income, or the financial impact on the business.
Whether the property is residential, rental, or commercial, the recovery process should protect both the building and the insurance claim connected to it.
When To Contact Ashford DiMartino?
You do not have to wait until your fire damage claim or fire damage insurance claim is denied to contact Ashford DiMartino & Jones.
It may be helpful to reach out when fire damage first happens, when a fire restoration company is beginning work, when an insurance adjuster is scheduled to inspect the property, or when the first estimate seems too low.
You should also consider contacting DiMartino if the insurance company is delaying the claim, disputing the scope of the fire damage, refusing to pay for certain repairs, ignoring contractor estimates, questioning fire damage restoration costs, disputing smoke remediation, undervaluing damaged contents, or pressuring you to accept a settlement.
The earlier DiMartino understands what is happening, the easier it may be to help protect documentation, review the policy, and identify issues before the claim becomes harder to fix.
Serving Highland and Northwest Indiana
Ashford DiMartino & Jones helps homeowners, renters, business owners, landlords, commercial property owners, homeowners associations, and property managers throughout Highland, Lake County, and Northwest Indiana with fire damage restoration guidance, smoke damage cleaning guidance, and insurance claim support.
The firm understands that fire damage can affect more than a building. It can disrupt your family, your business, your tenants, your income, your belongings, and your sense of stability. When the insurance recovery does not match the actual damage, the process becomes even more stressful.
Whether your loss involves fire damage, fire damage restoration, fire damage clean up, smoke damage cleaning, smoke remediation, fire clean up services, smoke removal service, fire and water restoration, home insurance fire coverage, or a disputed fire damage insurance claim, Ashford DiMartino & Jones can help protect the recovery while the property restoration moves forward.
(Note: We also have dedicated hubs for our neighbors in Merrillville and Portage.)
