Severe Smoke Damage

Richfords Gets Business Re-Opened 1

Week After Severe Smoke Damage

Situation Analysis

Smoke damage occured when an industrial deep-fat fryer started a fire in the kitchen of a cafe. The severe smoke damage was spread throughout the premises.

Objectives

The obvious concern was loss of business due to the smoke damage. Richfords task was to quickly and cost effectively get the business running again following the smoke damage.

Considerations

Health & Safety

As this is a food preparation area it was vitally important that ALL equipment could be cleaned following the smoke damage to an appropriate high standard.

Corrosion

Metals can suffer secondary damage through corrosion from the fire residues. The large and expensive electrical equipment was at risk from secondary damage following the smoke damage.

Gas Equipment

Some of the cooking equipment was gas fired. These required testing by qualified engineers.

Implementation

Chloride levels were tested by a Richfords British Damage Management Association (BDMA) Technician. The results showed a high corrosion risk from fire residues.
Metal items and uPVC windows were treated as a prime concern to avoid acid damage.
Electrical items were removed for cleaning and safety tests, to allow access to the structure.
Richfords cleaned the structure and contents.
As the cleaning process came to an end, the electrical items were returned.