Each year we spend billions of dollars to respond to and recover from disasters, large and small. This money ultimately comes right out of our pockets in the form of higher insurance premiums and taxes.

When disaster strikes, we see the outside devastation by the number of homes damaged or completely destroyed. But for most, the real devastation happens inside the home.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, it is estimated that some 370,000 home fires occur each year, costing close to $7 billion in total property damage. Many of these fires, however, start and are contained in a certain area of a home or business. Even though containment eliminates the necessity for complete demolition and reconstruction, it is still necessary for proper cleaning of soot and smoke in order to restore the property to a pre-loss condition.

There’s an old saying that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When it comes to restoring garments and other textiles involved with an insurance claim, a full tool box is required to successfully handle dozens of types of contaminants, hundreds of types of materials, and thousands of types of items.

Finalists will be featured in the June issue of R&R.

Cleaning windows affected by fire damage can be very time consuming. If you are lucky enough to get a job where the windows actually lift out or fold in for cleaning, then you’ve got it easier than most of us.

Fire and smoke damage can be one of the most challenging remediation tasks. There’s the actual damage from the fire, which is relatively straightforward, and then there’s the smoke.