What's Inside A Fire And Smoke Damaged Building?

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What's Inside A Fire And Smoke Damaged Building?

Jason Yost • November 21, 2022

Indoor Hazards Associated with Fire and Smoke Damaged Structures

There are many types of fire and smoke damages, ranging from outdoor sources, indoor sources, total loss of the structure, to localized damage like a kitchen fire. In all cases, there are things that can be harmful and a proper procedure to follow to restore your home or office from fire and smoke damage. Understanding the hazards, how to protect occupants from those hazards, and determining the proper restoration procedure requires insight into the specific fire and smoke damage. In this blog, we’ll touch on some of the basic dynamics of a fire and the hazards analyzed during a fire and smoke damage assessment that provide for that kind of understanding.

During a fire, heat, smoke, and the depletion of oxygen interact, exerting themselves as serious hazards. These hazards can be in the form of a solid, liquid, gas, or vapor, and can include a combination of particulate matter, gases, humidity, and bioaerosols. While it's beyond the scope of this blog to cover all these hazards, let’s briefly look at some of them:

Some of the gases associated with a fire and smoke damage include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphuric oxides, and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). Many of these gases can be colorless and odorless; for this reason, many of them can go unnoticed during the initial fire and smoke damage, the cleaning of the structure, and its restoration.

The particulate matter associated with fire and smoke damages are a combination of living (bioaerosols) and non-living matter and is a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Some of the particulate matter is large enough to be seen, like the large deposits of soot and ash you see settled onto your furniture and building components, while other particulate matter is so small, they can be seen only with the help of an electron microscope.

Of the living particulate matter, microorganisms (e.g., mold and bacteria), their fragments, and their toxins, as well as their particulate waste products can be of concern.

Health consequences of exposure vary with the size, mass, and concentration of the environmental stressor (or hazard), as well as the presence of other contaminants which interact with that stressor. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that particles small enough to be inhaled (referred to as respirable particulate), at concentrations of 250 to 350 micrograms (one microgram is 0.000001 gram or 1 gram is 1,000,000 micrograms) per meter (39.37 inches), increase respiratory symptoms in compromised individuals.

As with any damaged environment, understanding the condition of that environment is key in providing for the health and safety of all the occupants, as well as developing a scope of work that will restore the structure to a safe and secure status. Sometimes the damage can extend far beyond what you can see. For example, during the California wildfires many structures miles away from the physical fire experienced smoke, char, ash, and indoor air quality damage invisible to occupants. Obviously, in those situations, cleaning of the visible areas of soot and fire damage is not enough to secure the structure’s integrity and indoor air quality.

Today, there are tests that can be performed by qualified assessors (like those at Gulf Coast Center for Indoor Air Quality Services) to ensure that the hazards are defined, a detailed scope of work is generated, and health and safety issues are addressed prior to cleaning and restoration; equally, those same tests are available for a post-restoration verification assessment. The post-assessment provides for a scientifically-sound closure to any restoration process.

For more information, contact Gulf Coast Center for Indoor Air Quality Services to learn how we can serve you.

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