As per the statistics from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the public fire departments in the US have responded to 1,319,500 fires in 2017.

The fire departments in various counties responded to 149,893 residential fire cases and 22,308 business/mercantile fire cases during the period 2013 – 2017.

During the same period (2013-2017) an overall property loss worth $2,938,616,923 has been reported from a total of 620,002 reported fires across residential, commercial and unclassified properties.

Fire damage to a home or office property can be a big headache. While the former disrupts the concept of the best place to dwell, the latter can bring businesses to a standstill.

What can you do to prevent fire in your workplace or house? What are the precautions that you can take against fire damage? This post features some of the frequently asked questions related to fire damage to residential and commercial properties.

What are the main causes of a house or office fire?

Cooking, smoking and electrical negligence are considered to be the most common causes of home and office fires.
Electrical negligence: faulty wiring or failing to service or using faulty equipments without proper care can be the main triggers for fire. Do not overload the electrical sockets and ensure that none of your electrical equipments get overheated.

Cooking: getting distracted from cooking and leaving the situation unattended is surprisingly common in both house and workspace. It is ideal to have an automatic fire detection system for both office and residential cooking areas.

Smoking: smoking at home or office and not putting out a fire properly can easily trigger a fire. This is where a fire detector can come in handy.

How can you prevent fire accidents?

Follow these tips to prevent fire in office or residential properties:

• Take extra care while cooking using hotplates and do not leave cooking unattended
• Instal approved or certified smoke detectors throughout the property
• Design a fire evacuation plan for office spaces and plan your escape route in case of residential fire
• Considering electrical safety, do not flex wires together and get your wiring installation inspected by a certified specialist at least once every five years

How do you eliminate smoke odor in a house or commercial property?

Recovering from a residential or commercial property fire can be a slow and painful task. Of all the things, eliminating the smoke odor after a property fire can be the most challenging.

Smoke order is resilient and can easily tag itself to almost anything in your house or office space. Be it carpet, drapes, furniture or even walls.

This is where you need to consider these 5 proven tips for eliminating smoke odor.

What should I do if I had to use an excessive amount of water to extinguish a fire?

Even when you have requested the assistance from a professional fire damage restoration service, you start doing some damage control of your own, while waiting for their arrival.

If you ended up using excessive water, consider the following:

• If the carpets seem to be completely soaked and beyond recovery, consider removing it
• Resort to high powered fans; you can rent one from a nearby hardware store
• Lubricate the metal items or furniture frames with petroleum jelly to prevent rusting
• Foresee the possibility of mold formation and use commercial grade dehumidifiers

What should you not do during a fire?

Do not attempt the following in case of a property fire

• Do not try to kill a chip pan fire using water: water doesn’t mix with oil and it can cause an explosive reaction and spread the fire further
• Do not use lift to evacuate the building
• Do not take shelter in the cupboard or under the bed
• Do not try and jump out the upstairs windows

Fighting a fire can be a difficult task and recovery can be equally painful. It is smart to foresee these aspects and make the wise move to prevent a property fire at any cause.