Wildfire Safety & Recovery Resources

The Potential Hazards from Wind Driven Smoke

Determine whether your home is still standing and if there is any fire damage.

Once the threat of fire has passed, local authorities will open fire-impacted areas for property access.

Health and Safety considerations should be evaluated before entering your property or neighborhood.

Safety Hazards: Before stepping into a fire or smoke damaged environment make sure it is safe. Check on electrical safety (e.g., damaged or fallen power lines), structural issues (e.g., floors, walls and roof are solid, chimneys are sound, trees are undamaged), and sharp objects (e.g., be aware of nails/screws, protruding reinforcing bar and pipes, and broken glass).

Health Hazards: Fire damage doesn’t just results in burned, corroded or brittle objects, but also creates potentially harmful contaminants from extreme heating or burning of household hazardous materials and plastics, synthetics, polyurethanes, petrochemicals, metals and batteries found in many household goods and consumer products. The risk associated with exposure to harmful contaminants will vary with the type and extent of impact to the home.

Key terms and concepts for homeowners:

Industrial Hygienist/Certified Industrial Hygienist: An industrial or occupational hygienist is a specially trained exposure scientist who follows an Anticipate, Recognize, Evaluate, Control and Confirm (ARECC) model. An industrial hygienist who is investigating impacts from a fire should have a scientific degree, certification in industrial hygiene (CIH), and have experience in fire and smoke investigation and litigation. Industrial hygiene technicians should work directly for a CIH.

Occupational Environmental Health and Safety (OEHS) Professional: OEHS professionals may include exposure scientists who specialize as environmental scientists, industrial hygienists, safety professionals, hazardous materials managers, toxicologists, and other allied professionals. An OEHS professional should have similar degrees, certifications and experience as the CIH. CIHs may work as consultants, researchers, attorney’s experts, or for insurance providers. It is important to know the scope of work that a CIH can perform to assess the extent of damage to a property.

Restoration Specialist: A restoration or remediation specialist has the knowledge, skills and equipment to clean or restore a smoke damaged home or business to a degree of cleanliness established by a scope of work based on a damage assessment. A restoration specialist may clean and deodorize the home while a remediation specialist may be able to properly remove hazardous materials.

Damage Assessment: The hallmark of a damage assessment is the visual evaluation of a home or business for signs of smoke infiltration around doors, windows and other points of entry. Microscopic assessment for soot, char and ash is used to support the findings of the damage assessment. According to AIHA, damage may be categorized as Level 1: Background/no damage to Level 4: Heavy damage.

Health Risk Assessment: A health risk assessment is conducted by an exposure scientist (e.g., CIH, OEHS Professional) to determine the risk of cancer or non-cancer endpoints resulting from the exposure to fire residues in the home or business. An exposure scientist will collect samples of materials from the home (e.g., air samples, wipe samples and bulk materials) for laboratory analysis. The results of the analysis are used to calculate the excess risk to occupants for adverse health effects resulting from exposure to the fire residue.

Post Restoration/Remediation Verification: This important step is used to confirm the completion of cleanup activities in the home. It is typically conducted by a CIH/OEHS Professional to ensure that the observed damage and health risks have been reduced to an acceptable level.

Laboratory Services: The CIH, OEHS Professional and Restoration Specialist rely on support from qualified laboratories to analyze samples for physical and chemical properties. Microscopic analysis is used to assess soot, char and ash while a variety of sample collection and analytical methods are used to analyze chemical samples. A reputable laboratory will follow rigorous quality assurance and quality control procedures and will provide documentation critical to the evaluation of the property.

Scope of Work: The experience of the assessor and the purpose of the assessment and goal of the restoration effort will greatly influence the scope of work that is developed. The scope of work may vary significantly depending upon the assessment that is performed. For example, a restoration specialist may develop a scope of work that disposes of items that a homeowner may frequently contact but can not be effectively cleaned (e.g. heavy smoke damage to mattresses and upholstered furniture) and cleaning and repainting floors and walls. This scope will remove a great deal of smoke contamination and is most likely covered by homeowners insurance. Whereas an independent CIH/OEHS Professional may develop a scope of work that addresses additional potential health hazards from chemicals associated with smoke infiltration into building materials, wall cavities, duct work and other hidden sources. This expansion of the scope of work may not be covered by home owner’s insurance.

If You Must, Enter with Precautions

• Limit your time in the area
• Take respiratory precautions
  • Use respiratory protection, like an N95 mask or mask with no silicone components.
  • Note: A respirator with filter cartridges can offer better protection from particles and volatile chemicals but only if it has the right cartridges, it is properly fit tested to make a good seal on your face, and you have passed a medical clearance to ensure it does not pose a respiratory or cardiovascular health risk.
  • Do not touch the mask with your bare hands. Dispose of the N95 mask after one use and put on a new, clean mask.
  • As much as possible, do not disturb ash, dust, or soil.

• Protect your skin.
  • Wear disposable coveralls, shoe coverings, and nitrile gloves that can be disposed of--don't carry the fire residue back with you.

• Beware of hidden hazards
  • Often individuals searching through debris are injured by nails or other debris, use caution reaching into piles.

• Keep those most at-risk away
  • Until your property is fully cleaned and restored, avoid bringing infants and young children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised or those with chronic respiratory conditions back home.
    

What if my Home Looks Fine?

A wildfire's impact on property, public health, and the environment can expand several hundred miles from the actual burn zone. Property loss due to extreme heat damage can directly affect properties adjacent to a wildfire. Even worse, communities several hundred miles downwind from the fire may also be consequentially affected as combustion particles are lofted high into the air by the fire's extreme heat then driven great distances by prevailing winds. Feather-light ash produced by the intense heat of combustion and other smoke constituents, including solid particles, liquids, aerosols, and gases, can exist in the atmosphere for variable periods of time and continue to deposit long after the fire has been extinguished. The broad distribution capabilities and impacts of combustion byproducts and emissions produced by wildfires can result in widespread public exposure.

Wildfire particles can both migrate and infiltrate into the built environment through open doors and windows, on shoes and clothing, through the ventilation system, and unperceived gaps in the building envelope. Studies have shown penetration rates can be highly influenced by building characteristics, meteorology, and particle size/composition. Settled combustion particles on building surfaces or personal property can emit volatile materials, which may be the source of persistent odors and/or result in an alteration in appearance or value.

Be sure a clean water supply, electricity, and emergency medical services are restored, reliable, and readily accessible.

The fires may have deposited large amounts of ash that might contain hazardous or corrosive materials. Do not allow children in areas with visible ash accumulation that are not yet cleaned.

After the fire event, replace all air conditioning filters with higher filtration rated filters for at least a few weeks to remove entrained fire residue from the air and ductwork. Your property may also require duct cleaning or replacement if a visible layer of fire residue remains. Consult a duct cleaning company for advice.