On May 5, 2009 at approximately 1:45 p.m., the Jesusita Fire began in the hills of Santa Barbara. Before it was 100% contained the fire would claim 80 homes and burn more than 8,700 acres.
The resulting poor air quality, soot and debris quickly created a need to clean and restore homes. The smoke and odor damage in the homes near the fire in Santa Barbara was tremendous and affected hundreds of homes. ServiceMaster Anytime immediately held a meeting with the management team and began executing a strategic plan of response and restoration actions and set up our own incident command center.
ServiceMaster Anytime restored 69 homes after the Jesusita fire. Depending on the square footage of the home, restoration times varied anywhere from 72 man hours to up to 80 man hours. We worked with all insurance companies and assisted homeowners with claim management. We worked exhaustively to advocate and appeal for the homeowners we served. ServiceMaster Anytime has the capacity to respond to large scale damages like in the Jesusita fire due its expertise in strategic deployment of equipment, man hours and its resources in partnership with other ServiceMaster Clean franchises. Special thanks to our local ServiceMaster Commercial Building Maintenance and ServiceMaster of Santa Barbara. We incorporated cleaning professionals from each businesses to supplement our crew sizes.
The Jesusita fire was a complex fire so restoration and cleaning resulted in three categories.
CATEGORY 1 (Light Soot)
This represents the Hepa vacuuming/dusting of all horizontal area’s including floors, exterior cabinets, door frames, door jam, baseboards, window sills etc. affected by soot. It also includes the HEPA vacuuming of any affected upholstery, and carpet.
CATEGORY 2 (Medium Soot)
This represents all Category 1 functions above plus the Hepa Vacuuming and dusting of all affected walls, ceilings, and floors as well as carpet and upholstery cleaning services. Drapes/area rugs would be separate and subcontracted out.
CATEGORY 3 (Heavy Soot)
This represents all processes from Category 1 & 2 plus the heavy cleaning of all walls, ceilings, using dry cleaning sponges and wall glide processes. Interior windows to be cleaned, all affected surface contents will be wiped down. Cabinets and drawers to be cleaned inside and out.
As needed, separate restoration processes included power washing, duct & furnace cleaning, attic restoration, major deodorizing, window cleaning and textile restoration were required. In some cased content pack out and cleaning were necessary.
The Jesustita fire was classified as a “complex” fire. A complex fire is a result of materials burning and acting as synthetic fuels. These synthetic fuels form acid gases and corrosives such as hydrochloric, hydrofluoric, sulfuric and nitric acids. Some of the synthetic fuels are foams, films, polyethylene, polypropylene, melamine, acrilan, Saran, synthetic rubbers, Teflon, polyurethane, polyvinyl chlorides and fluorides. Objects made from these materials include: toys, carpets, flooring tiles, and sheet goods, furniture, clothing, shoes, appliances, plumbing, dishes and bathroom equipment. Even wood fires have been analyzed and found to produce over a dozen different organic acids. In a fire, acid gases combine with heat and water vapor and penetrate cracks and crevices. When the surfaces cool, the gases condense, forming highly corrosive solutions.
Soot is comprised of carbon and other materials, which are incompletely burned or oxidized. Although some of the carbon particles have electrical charges causing them to stick together, more often greases and oils are the adhesives. Some soot particles are dry and can be vacuumed effectively. Other soot particles require alkalinity and/or solvent action to dissolve the greases or oils. The alkalinity of a cleaning solution plus
the lifting-wetting action of surfactants chemically reacts with oil or grease to form a new product, a water-soluble soap, which is washed away.
The most important action to take in fire restoration is drying out the area as soon as possible. Smoke, water vapor and other gases should be evacuated. Portable metal objects should be moved, cleaned and dried with warm air as soon as practical. Smoke & Odor cleaning should proceed as usual, starting the salvage procedures in the wettest and heaviest areas. Delays in cleanup may change the probability that soil will be removed, requiring more time and more products than would have been necessary if restoration had not been delayed. Delay may also allow further chemical attack and decrease the level of success in cleaning. Some surfaces may even become so severely attacked that they are no longer salvageable. Visit our website www.svma.com for more about Smoke & Odor Damage remediation.
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