Respond to a Property Fire

In the event of a fire, you have to be ready to meet the immediate needs of the emergency personnel, the building’s residents and the insurance company. Once the initial crisis is under control, however, it is important that you act just as quickly to meet the needs of your business by minimizing the revenue lost from the fire.

One of the first things you will have to discuss with your insurance agent is bringing in a contractor right away—preferably someone with experience securing a property and mitigating the damage following a fire. The insurance company may have a specific contractor it prefers to work with, but if not, you should know ahead of time who you are going to call to come in and board up the building and pump out all of the water left by the fire hoses and sprinkler system.

Most good restoration contractors have crews ready to respond around the clock, says Danny Isaac, president of Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based A & I Fire and Water Restoration. The longer you wait, the greater the risk of increased damage to the property—something that may prove costly when it is time to settle with the insurance company. “Most insurance polices make it the property owner’s duty to mitigate any damage not directly caused by the fire,” Isaac says.

Quick Turnaround
Once the building has been secured and emptied of water, you will need to document the damage, in conjunction with a contractor and the insurance adjustor, and collect estimates on repairs. If the fire was confined to only a few apartments in a multifamily building, and didn’t cause significant structural damage, it should be your goal to return residents to the unaffected apartments as soon as possible.

You will need authorization from the fire department to allow residents back on the premises, according to Jack Linefsky, director of operations for Clifton, N.J.-based Value Companies. The fire department often will pull the meter during the fire, so don’t expect to move anyone back in until utilities have been restored following an inspection by municipal authorities.

Even apartments that weren’t directly affected by the fire may have suffered from smoke or water damage; they will need maintenance work before the residents can move back in. Isaac says you should expect to refinishing damaged finished wood floors, trim or cabinets. If you apply a glossy finish to your walls, it is often possible to remove smoke and soot just by cleaning. But any interior spaces decorated with flat, latex paint will need repainting. Furniture, Isaac says, is seldom salvageable, so if you are renting furnished apartments, you will need to order new furnishings right away.

Renovate
For units directly impacted by the fire, expect a much longer renovation. If an apartment needs to be gutted, it is likely to be 30 to 60 days before you could have someone living there again, Linefsky says.

It may pay to take this opportunity to modernize any apartments in need of a complete rehab. If the building didn’t previously contain up-to-date sprinkler or alarm systems, then now would be the time to install them. Don’t limit yourself to just safety issues when thinking about how to improve the property going forward. Isaac explains that, following a fire, A & I has been asked to redesign units with an out-of-date floor plan by converting a den or a dining room into a bedroom or expanding the size of a bathroom. Other common modernizing touches include elevating ceiling heights and replacing carpet and vinyl floors with hardwood and old-fashioned countertops with stone or granite.

Residents
While getting the property up and running again is important to your business, it is equally important to the residents displaced by the fire. Linefsky suggests you work with the local Red Cross or even other property managers to find immediate temporary housing for residents until the building is suitable for occupation. In the event that a resident is displaced for an extended period, he says, the lease is broken and it is considerate to help them locate alternative housing, either with your company or another.