Avoiding fire damage while grilling

7/10/2019 (Permalink)

Late Summer Grilling Can Lead To Fire Damage In St Clair COunty

The barbeque and grilling season is far from over in St Clair County. Cooking outdoors is popular for creating a festive atmosphere and delivering delicious, smoke-infused food to the dining table. Wood, charcoal, or gas grills do pose an elevated risk of household fire. If the flames jump to an exterior or interior portions of your home we can help with cleanup and restoration.

Outdoor grilling needs constant monitoring to avoid fire damage to your home. Even when you exercise caution variables such as wind gusts, or rambunctious pets can cause an accident that quickly turns into a crisis. During the relatively dry months of late summer, the grass or gardens near your house can ignite fast, spreading the line of fire to the exterior or inside of your dwelling. We respond to many fire cleanup scenarios where the source of the residue on surfaces in your home was an outdoor blaze.

SERVPRO warns that overhanging eaves, an awning, or roof can accelerate the transfer of heat and flames from even a small accidental outdoor fire from grilling. Despite burning just a few minutes before it is extinguished, the smoke and soot of a fire that escaped its containment system can make their way indoors, especially if open windows or heating or cooling intake vents are nearby. Think of how the aromas of your or a neighbor’s grilling waft into your house even when the cooking fuel is contained, and no emergency occurs.

Add to that the increase in smoke and soot if an outdoor fire jumps to the ground or the structure of your home. Fires started outside can grow in intensity if they catch the siding or trim of your home, and if a fire just outside the kitchen, where the majority of grilling spaces are, seeks and finds a burst of oxygen when the door opens, it travels inside with frightening ease. Firefighting efforts, both with fire extinguishers and water, may put out the fire but damage your home on their own. Fortunately, SERVPRO is a full-service restoration company, handling water, fire, and many other disasters.

If a gathering around the grill takes a turn for the worse, SERVPRO of St Clair County is ready to help clean up and restore any areas of your home affected. Give us a call at (205) 525-0332 to get the recovery started.