Items To Throw Away After a Fire

10/18/2021 (Permalink)

Some items, after a fire in your Clearfield, UT home, should be thrown away.

When your home in Clearfield, UT, catches fire, you may have to replace a lot of things. Important documents may be destroyed, and it may be less expensive to replace certain textiles rather than pay to have them cleaned. Fire restoration experts can help you determine which items are salvageable. There are some items, however, that you must always throw away after they are exposed to a house fire.

Items To Throw Away

Food Damaged by High Heat

It makes sense that perishable food that clearly smells like smoke or is packaged in a porous container such as cardboard would need to be thrown away after a fire. Even items that look ok on the surface may need to be tossed in the trash, too, though. If your pantry and refrigerator were exposed to high heat, you need to throw out everything in them:

• Canned foods
• Dry goods
• Spices
• Oils
• Condiments

While it is certainly disheartening to have to get rid of so much food, it is better to waste it by throwing it in the trash than to eat it and make yourself sick. Food that is exposed to the conditions of a house fire often starts to grow bacteria and spoil, even if its packaging still looks intact. To be on the safe side, toss it out and rebuild your pantry stash.

Medicine Exposed to Flames

The chemical composition of medication is uniquely formulated to produce specific health benefits. A fire changes all of that. If your medication was close enough to the fire for the packaging to melt, you definitely need to get rid of it. It is no longer safe to take.

In fact, unless the fire in your home was in a very small, contained area, you can't guarantee that the room where your medication is stored remained cool enough to keep it safe. It's best to throw away all pills and other drugs in the house, even if they don't show signs of burning or smoke damage.

Cosmetics Stored Near Affected Area

The same rules apply to your cosmetics and toiletries. Regardless of what the expiration date on the container says, if they were exposed to the heat of the fire in any way, you should consider them collateral fire damage and toss them out.

If the fire was near the bathroom or vanity where your cosmetics are stored, they have probably been ruined. Take pictures and make a list of all the items as you pitch them into the trash so that you know what you need to replace. This may be helpful information when you are filing your insurance claim. Depending on your policy, you may be compensated for the cost to replace them.

A house fire can be devastating in many ways. Some of your belongings may be able to be saved, but that doesn't apply to everything. Perishable items such as food, medicine, and cosmetics are sensitive to the heat produced in a house fire. You must throw away anything that could have been chemically altered by the presence of fire and replace it with something new.