I’m impacted by the wildfires in Colorado, had to evacuate and currently staying in a hotel. I expect my house is still standing (solar and some network devices were still responding until all power was cut off in the area and impacted the local ISP, and any fires in my immediate vicinity seem to have been controlled). The fires did get near or possibly to my home but the area is all grass and scrub, no trees so it was controlled. Hotspots were extinguished and I’m a bit outside the actual fire perimeter, with no real fuel for it to burn in my neighborhood further. Fingers crossed, I’ll get to go home in the coming weeks.
I’ve never been in a situation like this though. Even if the house is still standing and structurally sound, there’s probably smoke damage, possibly other burn damage from hot ash (the main fire perimeter reached within a mile of my home).
For anyone who’s been through a wildfire like this and gone home, what should I expect, and what hazards should I be aware of? Will things like clothes, bed, and so on be salvageable? Are there things that 100% should be discarded? And can the house just be cleaned and aired out? And is there anything specific structurally inside and outside I should look out for that might not be obvious?
Thanks!
First of all, I’m sorry that you’ve had to go through this. It is devastating overall, and especially to your own mental health. I’ve lived in wildfire zones, and it is scary coming up to summer every year.
I do secondary impact assessments, so I look at things outside of structural. More things that look at public health concerns: Mould, food, smoke damage (to food, limited air assessment), septic systems.
How long has it been since power was out?
- All perishables will likely have to go
Heat and smoke damage:
- Some pantry foods will have to go as well, even the canned goods. Excessive heat can affect the integrity of the packaging, and smoke could have penetrated non-vacuum sealed items as well.
- Smoke and ash are hazardous to your health. Who knows what else other than wood smoke might have gotten around (plastics, etc.). Definitely wear a well fitted mask when you go in to the house for the first time, or follow guidance of the authorities.
Will clothes, bedding, mattress be salvageable?
- Depends on how smoke-affected they are. This part, I am not 100% sure on, as it would be case by case. If you have insurance, I’d just go with insurance claims. Trying to wash all the particulate matter might not be great for your laundry machine, either. You also can’t wash a mattress. Unsure how well a commercial vacuum will handle smoke and ash.
Are there things that 100% should be discarded?
- All food in fridges, freezers
- Clothing, bedding, etc. that may have been left outside, I’d get rid of.
Can the house just be cleaned and aired out?
- This is something that the sanitarian (I think that’s what we’re called in the US) and air quality specialists can advise you. The AQ specialist can test the air to see if the house requires further remediation works, or if airing out is fine.
And is there anything specific structurally inside and outside I should look out for that might not be obvious?
- Sorry, I can’t help with this one, but are you on septic or community sewer?
- For septic, you’ll want a sanitarian and/or plumber to assess any damage. I’d ask the sanitarian if they’re going to be out anyway to look at the rest of the place, and you won’t have a plumber telling you that you need to fix/replace things that don’t needing fixing or replacing. You’ll not want sewage anywhere except where it’s supposed to go. Plastic tanks and water tanks melt easy - you don’t want it in your drinking water.
Things to keep in mind:
- Anything with a fan/condenser may need a proper clean, like fridges, freezers, kitchen exhaust canopies, portable and central AC and heaters, microwave, etc. Not only could it push the particulates around, but they could be accumulating particulates and could be a fire risk.
- Clean all surfaces including walls, ceilings, floors.
I haven’t been called out to do SIA’s in a while, but these are the things that have come to mind. I’ll give it a think over the week and get back to you.
Thanks, this gives me a pretty good checklist to work with. Also, didn’t consider pantry goods. Will canned items still be safe? (Edit - you covered this. I’ll have to talk to a specialist about this and the bedding. The house was as sealed as it could be and no fans or A/C on so 🤞).
Freezer goods might still be okay. I have solar with battery backup. Should still be running despite the smoke since I didn’t get to shut it off before evac, and my central air is off. It’s literally only running the fridge and some mini-PCs right now. My NAS is configured via USB UPS to properly shut down if power is cut, and doesn’t auto-restart on power available. So if it’s still running when this is over that’ll confirm power never went out to the fridge and freezer.
Oh hi again, I commented on your other post. Good on you, sealing the house and with your solar fridge setup. This other commenter knows their stuff. See if you can find out more about whether your home experienced heat from the fire (spot fires in your yard would be a clue that hot winds blew through) or not. And because your whole area was affected, your local and state government will probably have helpful resources and information so tap into that. Be aware that you may see animals (wild or pets) displaced by the fires. I live near the Pacific Palisades but was luckily upwind and got no real damage and I’m still getting visits to my feeder from wild birds and squirrels that don’t usually come into human areas.
If the specialist says the canned goods are okay, it may be worth giving them a good wash with warm, soapy water before opening. The can opener blade will bring the stuff on the outside of the can to touch the food inside.
This is all assuming that there has been some level of smoke and/or heat penetration. I have seen some bad places, so without knowing what you’re going back to, I always err on the side of caution!
If your house is sealed, great! There may or may not be some small openings to allow the house to breathe a bit. I know I do in Australia. I don’t know your set up for central air, but I’ve got central heating and both central AC and split system. All have openings outside, so depending on what filters you have in place or wind direction blowing particulates and ash around, ask how best to flush/clean it without contaminating your house insides.
Water pressure - sinks, taps, tubs, showers. Let it run a few minutes before using. It may have been turned off or may have dropped while you were gone.
You may also have a boil water notice placed on the area. Buy bottled water before you go home. If you have electricity, have a kettle.
Do you have electricity and/or gas? Gas may be shut off temporarily for safety reasons. I imagine authorities would have checked before letting people go back to their homes, but just be vigilent of gas smells in and around your home.
Bring what flashlight, and emergency things you have. You may or may not have disruptions while things get back to normal.
Wear mask (and gloves if it’s thick) when cleaning. The soot/ash will have settled everywhere, so depending in what authorities have recommended, you’ll still want to protect yourself when you’re washing the outside of your house. Maybe keep an eye on the weather forecast and pick the sides of the house on the days carefully until good AQ is consistent. Spray affected surfaces down before scrubbing to keep the airborne-able stuff from flying around, and easier to manage.
Keep an eye on utilities and government websites to stay updated on everything. They know your area better than I do, so I can only speak generally about things.
There are too many acronyms in your response (NAS? UPS?), haha but I get the gist of it. If you’re unsure about the freezer food, I’d throw it. It’s not worth getting sick over on top of everything else you have to manage right now. Health services might be overwhelmed, shops may not have the medication you need, and who knows what the road is like if it’s bad enough to need an ambulance.
I’m typing stuff as I remember them (wrote the other reply when still groggy after nap), so I may have more through the week, if you’d like me to keep responding!
There are too many acronyms in your response (NAS? UPS?), haha but I get the gist of it.
My bad, I work in IT and take the acronyms for granted.
UPS is uninterruptible power supply, NAS is network attached storage.
I work from home so I have everything with backups for power and internet.
My solar setup has a 1 second switch-over when grid power fails so my critical stuff has small UPS batteries. The network storage box also has one of the UPSes plugged into a USB port to communicate a power failure, so if only the UPS is on and no other power is detected after 15 or 20 minutes, it’s set to safely shutdown (battery lasts about 45 mins).
So that means if the NAS is still on when I get home, my solar battery never fully drained and kept powering the house.
I gotcha. Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense now. I hope at least most of your home is as it was when you left it. Let us know how you go. Fingers crossed for you!
Not sure about CO, but testing (aside from a swab of the walls) is not covered by insurance and costs thousands.
Sorry you’re going through this. I was in a similar situation last year in Pasadena, CA. Feel free to message me if you wanna talk about it.
