When Smoke and Soot From Nearby Fires Enter Your Queens Home

12/17/2019 (Permalink)

Smoke and soot from nearby fires can travel into your home. and leave residues and odors behind.

Fire Damage Includes Smoke Wafting in from Nearby Burning Structures in Your Queens Neighborhood 

Even with closed windows throughout your house, a wildly burning business nearby your Queens residence can make things inside smell smoky. Technicians from SERVPRO can remove this odor from your home or condo. Wiping away any dark soot we find is routine when assisting many of our customers. In this situation, however, we find that soot sediments enter the house differently.  

The interior of nearby homes after a large fire in Queens smell like smoke and fire damage because the particles that cause such odors are so small and able to pass through tiny openings. Cracks in your foundation and around windows and doorways can let in substantial amounts of hot smoke particles. Your house's fresh air intake can let in smoke, too, which is one reason our building services team stays available 24/7, just like we do. 

They can clean out your HVAC system's ducts and remove any traces of smoke, ash, and soot that continually produce offensive odors. Stripping the interior of air ducts, cleaning the vents, and wiping the areas outside each one leaves your home with a fresh scent. 

While the fire occurred, likely, your heating system ran at least once or twice, meaning air from the outside was pulled into your house, bringing in soot particles. Related pressure variations in your home can also cause additional soot to enter through those cracks.  

To further reduce the amount of soot your house contains, we can use thermal fogging techniques. While the fire was not inside of your home, our Odor Control Technician (OCT) can assess each area of your residence, allowing the fog to mimic the intrusive smoke adequately enough to achieve the desired results. Bonding with soot helps eliminate odors via molecular bonds that keep odor-causing particles out of the air.  

SERVPRO of Forest Hills / Ridgewood understands fire can be a traumatic experience, even when it happens to someone else. We are near Kew Gardens, Rego Park, and Glendale, and always available to help reduce the impact your family experiences from any source of smoke or fire damage. Call us at (718) 381-3702. 

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