The Importance of Post-Remediation Verification in Fire Restoration

If you are in the fire restoration industry, sooner or later you will encounter a customer who swears they smell smoke well after you have completed the deodorization process. More often than not, these types of complaints arise once the deodorizers have dissipated and the home has been reoccupied. When a restorer runs into this, the last thing he or she wants to deal with is tearing apart a newly repaired home, paying for relocation and a packout, and fronting the bill for all the costs associated with a second round of repairs. The restorer’s first line of defense often goes something like this: “Oh, give it some time and the smoke smell will go away” or “I don’t smell anything. What you are experiencing is a common psychological condition called phantosmia, which is the perception of smoke odors when there are none.”

This is about the time when the restorer calls the customer to collect on the final invoice and the customer’s lawyer answers the phone.

Reoccurring smoke odors are typically the result of incomplete source removal, smoke odors being trapped in concealed spaces or improper remediation methods. In most cases, any attempt to fix the problem by using ozone generators, fogging deodorizers or running air scrubbers won’t make much of a difference.

One way to avoid this nightmare is to have an independent environmental professional (IEP) involved from the beginning of the project to identify the composition of the combustion byproducts, assist with the creation of a remediation protocol and then conduct a post-remediation verification (PRV) once the deodorization and cleaning has been completed. This is the same concept that is commonly used for mold remediation, meth lab and sewage cleanup, biohazard remediation, asbestos abatement, etc. 

Where the Trouble Begins – Overpromising and Under Delivering

When restoration salespeople are attempting to secure a fire restoration contract, most will guarantee their customers that when the work is completed, the building and/or personal property will be clean, smoke odor-free, and restored to a pre-loss condition. This guarantee is typically based on a visual assessment and a “sniff test” when the restorer feels like the work is completed. When a customer later says they smell smoke, especially on their clothing, develops allergic reactions or complains of a weird chemical odor, everyone will point their finger at the restorer. Then there’s the issue of combustion byproducts that don’t have a smell such as dioxins, heavy metals or toxic VOC’s that have been camouflaged by fragrances used in cleaning agents, foggers and re-odorizers. Here, the restorer has no way to tell whether potentially toxic combustion byproducts may be present without the help of an IEP.

Characteristics of Post-Fire Environments

Structure fires and wildfires that occur in the wildland-urban interface, generate huge amounts of hazardous combustion byproducts. These include toxic gases, vaporized heavy metals, dioxins, furans, ultrafine particulate matter, illicit drug residues and a wide range of byproducts that can cause acute and chronic illness. Those who are at the highest risk are infants, small children, the elderly and those with compromised respiratory or cardiovascular systems. Restorers need to keep this in mind before making unsubstantiated claims of a cleaned home without real proof.

To better illustrate the value of using IEP’s, I was recently involved in a residential garage fire where heavy smoke went throughout the home. The home was built in 2005 and the adjuster didn’t feel it was necessary to test for anything since the home was built well after the cutoff dates for asbestos and lead. However, I became concerned when I noticed a lot of melted fishing tackle boxes, exploded bullets and reloading equipment, which to me was an indication that there may have been lead that vaporized. So, I took it upon myself to bring out an IEP and sure enough, when I got the results, the soot throughout the home was found to contain high concentrations of lead.

Photo: Sean Scott

Had I not opted to have the testing done, the homeowner and my workers could have been exposed to a lead contaminated home and I could have been exposed to a major lawsuit.

Without scientific analysis, sampling, and testing it is impossible for a restorer  to confirm whether toxic combustion byproducts are present when many of them are invisible, unrecognizable or odorless. Furthermore, a restorer will have no way to know for certain if the chemicals and oxidizers they use aren’t creating potentially hazardous byproducts of their own when oxidizers react with other chemicals or gases.

The Power of the PRV

In the restoration industry, it is a common practice to have industrial hygienists, laboratories or other types of IEP’s involved in the restoration process. For example, mold remediation, asbestos and lead abatement, sewage and biohazard cleanup and meth lab decontamination all require the involvement of IEP’s. These professionals help by identifying the hazards, developing a protocol for the cleaning or abatement and a PRV at the end to be sure the contaminants have been removed and the work was done properly.

Here are some concerns restorers may face if they disregard the need for a PRV:

1. Lawsuits: Restorers will likely start getting sued in masse by property owners for fraud, negligence, willful negligence, personal injury and a wide range of other legal issues as more and more fire survivors realize that their homes or personal property have not been cleaned or properly restored.
2. Customer Complaints of Fraud: Some of the methods and chemical applications being touted and used by restorers today haven’t been truly tested for efficacy and in many cases have been proven that they simply don’t work.  The reliance on oxidizers, fancy fragrances and foggers does little more than camouflage odors as part of an effort to deceive the sense of smell.
3. Personal Financial Loss: If a restorer gets sued for a failed smoke odor remediation project, their own contractor general liability insurance (CGLI) may not pay to defend them. These types of liability claims involve pollutants that are typically excluded by CGLI policies. Unless the restorer carries pollution insurance, he or she would likely have to pay out of pocket to not only pay legal defense fees, but also six or seven figure judgements that could follow if the property owner prevails in a lawsuit.
4. Loss of Clients: Insurance carriers and their managed repair programs will be exposed more than ever to lawsuits from their insureds for recommending restorers who fail to properly clean or deodorize structures and/or their contents. It will only take one nasty lawsuit before carriers will cut off any restorer that exposes them to this level of liability. And when it comes time for the experts to sit before a jury and testify, it will come down to the restorer’s sense of smell and eyesight versus the best laboratories, toxicologists, scientists with PhD’s and attorneys.  

 Three Benefits of a PRV:

1. Verifies Cleanliness: A PRV verifies that at the time the test was taken and passed, that the indoor air environment and surfaces were deemed safe for use or occupancy.
2. Protects Against False Claims: In the event a customer is trying to take advantage of the restorer by claiming smoke odors or residues are present when they are not, the PRV will provide scientific proof to determine if the restorer successfully restored the loss.
3. Defines Liability: In the case of wildfires, combustion particles will continue to infiltrate buildings and be tracked into the structure for months after the property has been professionally cleaned. A successful PRV will mark the completion of restoration and any liability to re-clean. 

Science and technology have advanced to the point where the toxicity of combustion byproducts can no longer be ignored. Make a PRV part of your standard of care.