Different Types of Smoke & Soot

11/1/2018 (Permalink)

What did it leave behind?

SERVPRO of Patchogue's first step at a fire scene is to address your concerns.  The second step is to pretest to see what type of fire has taken place.  Knowing the types of smoke and their behavior patterns are vital to proper restoration.

Did you know there are different types of smoke?

Wet Smoke: Plastics and Rubbers (low heat, smoldering, pungent odor, sticky, smeary)

Dry Smoke: Paper and Wool (fast burning, high temperatures, heat rises therefore the smoke rises)

Protein: Produced by evaporation of material rather than from a fire (Virtually invisible, discolors paints and varnishes, extreme pungent odor)

Fuel Oil Soot: Furnace Puff Back

Other Type: Tear gas, fingerprint powder, and fire extinguisher residue.

Pretesting determines the cleaning method, as well as what can be restored versus replaced. Pretesting also allows the SERVPRO Franchise Professional to focus on saving those precious items for you.  Isn’t that what really matters?