4th of July just passed and as we celebrate our country over an open grill and picnic tables a story of a baked bean disaster comes to mind. A few years ago we received a call on a fire; normal fire, normal crew, normal repair right? Turns out though that it was a protein fire... which are particularly hard to clean up. A women had left a pot of beans on the stove while she stepped away, the juices dried in the pot from too much heat and it began to burn emitting protein smoke. Eventually the heat increased so much that it caught her house on fire. Fortunately they were able to put it out before the whole house was engulfed but the fire had done a fair amount of damage. Unfortunately it didn't stop there, the whole house had been covered by protein smoke.
According Ron Reese with REE-Construction a protein fire can be very damaging. Unlike a more typical smoke damage where the primary residues are from wood, paper, fabrics, etc., protein fires are not so much a matter of removing the smells of a damage, but of removing the visible smoke residues.For example, a 20lb turkey catches on fire after sitting on a pot for some time, you might think the damage would just be to the area that looks burnt but in fact you have a little bit of turkey everywhere; on the cabinets, on your clothes, on the walls. Protein smoke residues may leave little or no visible residue, but will deposit that nauseating smell on every surface. It isn't just that though, it gets into places you may not usually check like the insulation in your dishwasher or behind the cabinet. It is imperative to hire a professional to get rid of these odors. Success requires careful and methodical attention to detail in every phase of the restoration. Source removal is the most likely approach to produce successful results as efforts to mask the odor with chemical deodorants usually results in just making it a sickly sweet smelling problem.
So next time you have a BBQ and leave something on the stove to go check on your grill or make a phone call make sure and leave enough water or juices so that a fire doesn't start. The cost of not doing so is high. For more information on Returning to Normal after a fire check out our website at http://www.the-restorers.com
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