Effects of Smoke and Ash On Your Facility’s Exterior

Wildfires are dangerous from start to finish – they can irreparably damage both natural and urban landscapes, and pose a threat to human and animal health and life long after the flames die down. Safety is the first priority, followed by preventing or repairing what’s affected or lost by the tragedy. When it comes to maintaining your community, it’s important to know what steps need to be taken to begin the restoration process in order to get back to healthy, safe, and normal as soon as possible.

It’s important to understand what happens in the wake of a wildfire. First, smoke after the flame – smoke is made of the leftover particles that didn’t completely burn, and although these particles are microscopic, they are visible to the eye due to their combined volume. Then, comes ash, which happens once these particles fall to the ground and settle along with the larger debris. Finally, soot is a black substance that’s produced by many of the materials that burn during a wildfire, and can be carried by air or humidity. Smoke, ash, and soot can all cause long-term damage, so here’s how they can affect your building – such as a home or business facility – as well as how you can respond as best as possible.

Smoke damage

In the immediate aftermath of the fire, the smoke is the first thing to damage anything the flames didn’t reach. Smoke residue can turn plastics yellow, discolour appliances, and permanently stain marble, alabaster, or any other highly porous materials. In some cases these effects can be combated, and in others they can only be replaced. Smoke residue can continue to stain for hours and days, staining tile grout, turning countertops and bathroom fixtures yellow, tarnishing metals, and discolouring walls permanently. The sooner you are able to begin treatment, the more likely it is to salvage whatever is possible and minimize losses.

Soot on the exterior

For all the buildings left standing, the first threat is gone, but the challenge isn’t over yet. Soot builds up on the outside of your home or business layer by layer, so it’s essential to respond quickly as the problem can build on itself and become worse and worse. As this occurs, it hardens into a lacquer-like residue that becomes difficult – or even impossible to remove. Soot can be dry or oily, and must be responded to accordingly. It’s best to have professionals work to remove soot, as it can change from dry to oily many times throughout the property, depending on the items that burned creating the soot.

Ash inside your building

Although the exterior of your building takes the brunt of the damage, the inside isn’t necessarily safe either, in fact, you can nearly guarantee it has also been affected. Ash can find its way into homes and businesses long after the fire is gone. Because of its small size, ash can accumulate within buildings by coming through the gaps in the doors and windows, imperfections in the roof, ceiling openings and cracked cornices, as well as cooling and heating systems and fans and vent points. Because ash is so fine, it can irritate the lungs and skin, making it dangerous to be exposed to – it can get in eyes, cause rashes, lead to sore throats or non-stop coughs, and even trigger more serious conditions such as asthma, or worsen pre-existing heart conditions. For this reason, it’s important to be smart, quick, and thorough when it comes to removing ash – and if possible, it’s best to leave to the professionals who have the proper cleaning and safety equipment.

Wildfires are devastating events, even for the things that weren’t destroyed as an immediate result. However, by understanding the effects of smoke, ash, and soot, and responding as quickly as possible, it can increase the odds of saving as much of your home or business as possible, and hopefully keeping the cost of restoration down, too. Although the process is difficult, we’re all here to support one another through it, and come out more resilient and stronger than ever.