Last week, Hamilton Restoration Insights looked at soot, something that had become a very visible conversation across parts of the city. This week we're staying close to the subject of fire, but for a different reason.
Hamilton has seen several significant fires in recent weeks.
On August 21, a house fire on Rosslyn Avenue North caused an estimated $1 million to $1.5 million in damage to two homes, according to the Hamilton Fire Department and reporting by CHCH News and the Bay Observer. Five days earlier, a fire on Sanford Avenue North caused roughly $400,000 in damage. And on August 13, crews spent much of the day at a multiple-alarm warehouse fire on Gage Avenue South, near Gage Park.
The headlines understandably focus on the fire itself: Did everyone get out? How extensive was it? Is it under control?
But another part of the story begins after the cameras, and eventually the fire trucks, leave.
The damage doesn't stop where the fire did
A fire loss isn't limited to the areas that actually burned. Smoke travels throughout a building and settles on surfaces far from the source. Soot and residue reach rooms that appear untouched. Odours embed themselves in building materials, furniture and contents.
And then there is water. Suppressing a significant structure fire can introduce thousands of litres of water into a property, which means recovery often involves fire, smoke and water damage at the same time.
For the homeowner standing in that property for the first time, the question becomes: what can be cleaned and restored, and what actually needs to be replaced? There's rarely one answer, because every fire behaves differently. What burned, how long it burned, where smoke travelled and how much water was used all shape what comes next.
If it's your property: the first 48 hours
Restoration professionals, insurers and adjusters know this terrain well. Most homeowners are seeing it for the first time. A few things genuinely help in those first days:
Don't re-enter until you're cleared to. Structural damage, air quality and electrical hazards aren't always visible. Wait for the fire department or a qualified professional to confirm the property is safe.
Notify your insurer early. Most policies require prompt notice of a loss, and early contact gets an adjuster assigned sooner. That matters, because time works against a fire loss: soot residue becomes more difficult to remove the longer it sits, and wet materials begin to support mould growth within days.
Document before you disturb. Photograph rooms and contents as they are, before anything is moved or cleaned. That record supports your claim and helps everyone assess what's restorable.
Resist the urge to start cleaning. Wiping soot with household cleaners can drive residue deeper into porous surfaces and turn a cleanable item into a replaceable one. Soot removal depends on the type of residue, and that's an assessment worth getting right before anyone picks up a cloth.
The other emergency
Once the property is safe to enter and investigations are complete, the focus shifts: damage is assessed and documented, water extracted, materials dried, residues evaluated, contents inventoried and cleaned, and in some cases the building secured before deeper restoration can begin.
We tend to think of the end of a fire as the moment the flames go out.
For the people who own that property, that's often the beginning of getting it back.
Hamilton Restoration Insights
What’s happening in our city, through a restoration lens.
A weekly series from ServiceMaster Restore of Hamilton.