If you have a fire or water emergency, please call us now at (765) 420-0077

To have the optimal experience while using this site, you will need to update your browser. You may want to try one of the following alternatives:

Fire & Water - Cleanup & Restoration

Understanding the Impact of Fire Damage in a Lafayette Editorial Office

4/25/2017 (Permalink)

Offices have a lot of equipment which needs specialized and immediate attention. Call SERVPRO today in order to put our expertise to work for you.

SERVPRO Technicians are Trained to Remediate Fire Damage in Many Types of Environments

Fire is bad news whether it breaks out in a family home, a commercial kitchen, or your favorite retail store. However, there are some environments which are particularly vulnerable to heat, and it is these buildings which have the most to lose when emergencies develop.

Media, print, and editorial offices, for example, are subject to a great deal of fire damage, because they contain significant amounts of paper and computing equipment. It is imperative for repair teams like SERVPRO to arrive on site quickly, so as to rescue as much material as possible.

The Challenge

Whether or not we can salvage something as fragile as a book, binder, file, or microfilm depends on a variety of factors. The first is how much heat the object came into contact with during the fire. When placed next to very high temperatures, things like blueprints, disks, and tapes can look unblemished from the outside, but the heat often warps and degrades the delicate interior.

Nevertheless, SERVPRO has lots of experience handling and restoring paper documents like the ones common to an editorial office. We work closely with third party experts to inspect and protect books, microfilm, disks, tapes, Mylar, and more. The best shot at salvage is for those objects that have been in boxes and on shelves during the fire.

The Solution

SERVPRO prioritizes the most at risk items, so we typically deal with records, files, and media devices which are high up first. As heat rises, they can end up sustaining lots of damage, even if they are away from the flames. Without opening books and files, we carefully remove them and use a variety of cleaning technique to dislodge soot residues.

For instance, dry sponging, hand vacuuming, and regulated air are all useful ways to remove dry, dusty soot from the surface. It is vital for binders, files, and books to be handled with care and not opened until the outside covers are free of dirt and grime. Similarly, disks, negatives, tapes, and microfilms are cellulose sponged with minimal handling and movement.

The other part of the restoration process which SERVPRO tackles from the outset is odor. Editorial offices are busy places. They need to be safe and comfortable for employees. Acrid, smoky odors cannot be allowed to linger within paper documents. Deodorization techniques are very effective after a fire because they introduce a highly penetrating fog which ‘chases’ odor particles into porous materials and neutralizes them.

SERVPRO of Lafayette is part of an extensive network of specialists, experts, and contractors. So, no matter what you are attempting to rescue after a fire, we have the solution. Call us 24/7 at (765) 420-0077.

Other News

View Recent Posts