After a Fire — Your First 48 Hours Checklist for Nj Property Owners

After the fire department leaves, you are standing in front of a damaged property and a long list of decisions. The choices you make in the first 48 hours determine whether the restoration goes smoothly or turns into a months-long ordeal. A practical checklist from years of NJ fire restoration work.

Hour 0-2 — safety

Confirm with the fire chief that the structure is safe to enter. Even contained fires can damage structural members invisibly. If the fire department has tagged the property unsafe, do not enter regardless of what you can see from outside. If the fire department has approved entry, ask about specific hazards (compromised flooring, utility shut-offs, etc.) before going in.

Utility shut-offs: gas should be off (fire department typically does this), water typically still on, electricity may be partially on or off depending on damage. Do not attempt to restore any utility service yourself — wait for a qualified utility tech to inspect.

Hour 2-12 — secure the property

Compromised building envelope (broken windows, damaged doors, holes in roof) needs board-up to prevent further weather + animal intrusion. Our storm + structural restoration crews handle emergency board-up the same hour as the call. Once the property is secured, the rest of the restoration scoping can proceed at non-emergency pace.

Photograph everything before touching anything. Wide shots of every room, close-ups of damaged areas, exterior views, anything that establishes the pre-cleanup condition. These photos become the foundation of the insurance claim.

Hour 12-24 — open the insurance claim

Call the carrier and open the claim. Most carriers will assign an adjuster within 24-48 hours and schedule an on-site inspection within the first week. Coordinate the adjuster visit with your restoration crew so you have both parties on-site together — speeds scope agreement significantly.

Get the claim number. Bring it to your first conversation with any restoration company. Restorers can bill the carrier directly with claim number authorization, which means you don't have to front the cost.

Day 2 — start the restoration scope

Engage a fire damage restoration contractor of your choice. Do not sign Assignment of Benefits (AOB) paperwork from contractors who show up unsolicited — AOB transfers your insurance claim rights to the contractor and locks you into that vendor for the entire job.

The fire restoration scope typically has these phases: emergency board-up (already done), content pack-out (catalog everything affected, transport to cleaning facility), structural cleaning (HEPA vacuuming + dry-chem sponge of soot from walls, ceilings, contents), HVAC decontamination (NADCA standards), odor neutralization (hydroxyl + ozone treatment depending on severity), and reconstruction (drywall + flooring + paint + cabinets + finish work).

What NOT to do in the first 48 hours

• Don't dispose of damaged contents before documentation — they become unprovable losses.
• Don't try to clean smoke-damaged surfaces with household products — soot is acidic and household cleaners can spread the damage.
• Don't sign AOB paperwork from any contractor.
• Don't attempt utility restoration yourself (wait for qualified tech inspection).
• Don't enter parts of the structure that the fire department flagged as unsafe.
• Don't accept the first carrier estimate without a second opinion if the scope feels low.

Our role on first-call: secure the structure, document for insurance, scope the cleanup + reconstruction in Xactimate format the adjuster recognizes. From there, the project plan is straightforward. The first 48 hours of decisions are what determine whether the rest of the timeline is straightforward or contentious.