Earlier this month, Thomas Eric Duncan became the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with the Ebola virus following his return from Liberia.

From late June 2014 and into early July, two separate strings of storms swept over central Iowa, producing as many as 11 tornadoes, and knocking down telephone poles, downing trees and flooding out homes.

In the early morning 4 a.m. hour on July 23, 2014, smoke began to billow from downtown Philadelphia’s Sheraton Hotel, located at 16th and Race Street, causing officials to evacuate over 1,000 guests from all of its 26 stories and 757 rooms for precautionary purposes.

We’ve covered “storm chaser contractors” (i.e. predatory contractors who knock on doors immediately after a natural disaster and pressure homeowners in to signing costly repair contracts), but it appears that there’s a new type of scam gaining popularity – “fire chasing.”

Whether it’s to remove mold spores to eliminate the threat of cross contamination or to remove soot and smoke that made its way into the HVAC system after a fire loss, duct cleaning is an important step on many restoration projects.

You can’t underestimate safety, especially on the types of jobs that you’re likely to be called out to in the restoration industry.

It’s no secret that one of the biggest storylines in the restoration industry over the past several years has been the lawsuits.

Every restoration business owner I talk to in the metro Detroit area is quick to tell me what a busy winter they had, thanks to the polar vortex leading to lots of broken pipes and water losses. And it appears that this August is shaping up nicely for them too thanks to record rainfall in southeast Michigan Monday afternoon.

Its estimated that up 20 million gallons of water flooded UCLA’s campus on Tuesday when a 93-year-old water main busted, spewing water 30 feet into the air and sending water throughout many of the streets and buildings on campus.

It was April 2014 when heavy rainfall in the Birmingham, Alabama area left roads flooded, properties damaged and several inches of standing water everywhere. The nearby community of Vestavia was particularly impacted by the rainfall – notably Hollywood Imports, a pre-owned luxury vehicle dealership.