Different Types of Fires

Did you know there are actually different types of fires?

All fires are devastating and cause a large amount of stress for the people whose lives that have been affected. Depending on what caused the fire changes the way we have to restore the property to a pre-incident state.

There are three main types of fires: oxygen rich (fast burning), oxygen deficient (slow burning) and a protein fire.

Oxygen Rich Fires

The easiest fire to clean is oxygen rich fires. This is because these burn faster, making it quicker to remove all soot residues that have been left behind.

Leaving a chip pan on and then it catching fire is the most common oxygen rich fire.

Oxygen Deficient Fires

The oxygen deficient fire is slow burning. Electricity sockets being overloaded if commonly the cause of oxyden deficient fires. These slowly smoulder away leaving soot damage.

Protein Fires

Leaving a piece of meat in a pan can cause be a cause of protein fires. Also, bedding that contains feathers can lead to protein fires once they catch fire. This type of fire causes brown yellowish streaks on the walls that can be very difficult to not only see, but also to clean.

Even though there are three very different types of fires, sometimes one type can lead to another.

It is also important to understand that smoke moves by convection currents. This means the smoke will always move away from the seat of the fire to reach the ceiling. A lot of the time, the bottom of the walls may look clean but there is heavy smoke damage to the ceiling.

Fires cause a lot of damage to the contents inside a house, but we always try restoring whatever we can. Even books, documents, photographs, wooden furniture and artwork can be restored by specialists.

If you ever experience a fire in your home, it is always important to not only call the emergency services straight away but to also call your insurance company to make a claim. Less secondary damage can be prevented if a restoration company like Rainbow can attend promptly.

If you require any expert advice or fire restoration, please do not hesitate to contact us. Read more about fire restoration here.