Why Choose SERVPRO of Charlottesville for Fire Damage Restoration? We’ve Been in Your Shoes (Part Two)

2/17/2020 (Permalink)

We've been in your shoes, and know the trauma of coping with fire and soot damage.

As mentioned in a previous post, SERVPRO of Charlottesville suffered a water damage loss in March 2016. At the end of April 2016, we experienced a warehouse fire. Again, Amy Yates, our wonderful Accounting and HR savant lived through the whole ordeal.

She recounts, “The culprit was some faulty electrical wiring at the outlet between the bay doors. Our next-door neighbor at True Green (lawn fertilizer company) happened to get to work a half an hour earlier than usual, at 6:00 am. He saw smoke coming out of the bay door and called the Fire Department. The Fire Department called SERVPRO of Charlottesville and got me since I was on call. ‘Your building is on fire!’ are hardly the words you want to hear upon awakening. It didn’t take the firefighters long to put out the fire; about 15 to 30 minutes. But it caused so much damage! And soot was everywhere! You don’t realize how fast soot permeates into everything. I still have old files that smell sooty.”

It was ‘all-hands-on-deck’ to:

• inventory everything
• throw out what couldn’t be salvaged
• clean up all affected areas
• and keep the business open for the customers we were “here to help”

Amy continues her narrative, “The phones were down because the heat affected the wiring. Soot ruins electronic equipment. SERVPRO of Lynchburg lent us equipment since much of ours was ruined in the fire. In retrospect, the fire could have been much worse. The smoke was detected early, and that made all the difference.”

Lessons Learned:

• We have greater Empathy for customers going through the same kind of trauma
• We know that the panic is real
• We know that it WILL get better

So, we know what we are talking about when we say ‘We’ve been in your shoes’.

For information on our Fire Damage Restoration Process, click here.

For information on the training involved for our Restoration Specialists, click here.

For information on IICRC standards and why hiring a Certified IICRC Firm is important, click here.

Before and After photos on our warehouse fire, click here.

Have Questions About Fire, Smoke, and Soot Damage?

Call SERVPRO of Charlottesville for 24 Hour Emergency service at 434-977-5850