Had a fire? What to do first, and how we save your belongings
If someone from On-Site left this with you, we are sorry about your fire. This page is short on purpose: what to do first, and what happens to your belongings. We answer the phone 24 hours a day, every day.
The life of a box: from your home to our facility and back (1 min 38 s)
The first steps after a fire
- Wait until the fire department has released the house before you go back in.
- Take only the essentials: documents, a change of clothes, glasses, chargers. Do not take any medication that was in the house. Bring it to your pharmacy and ask for a new prescription.
- Do not run the heating or the air conditioning. It moves the soot into rooms the fire never reached.
- Do not wipe soot with a wet cloth or a household cleaner. Water turns dry soot into a stain that soaks in.
- Do not switch on TVs, computers or appliances to test them. Smoke residue is acidic, and powering a sooted device is what usually finishes it off.
- Do not throw your belongings away yet. Most clothes, furniture and keepsakes can be cleaned, and anything thrown out before it is listed is much harder to claim for.
- Call your insurance company to open a claim, and write down the claim number.
- Call us on (800) 993-9345. We come out, walk through the house with you and tell you what can be saved.
What happens to your belongings
This is called a pack-out. It is not a moving job. It is a documented process, and the documentation is what gets your contents claim paid.
1. Listed and packed, room by room
Every item is photographed and logged before it is touched, with its condition recorded. Everything is packed by room, so it can go back where it belongs. Tell the crew what matters most to you before they start, and it is handled accordingly.
2. Cleaned and deodorized at our facility
Soot and smoke odor are removed off site, with the method matched to the material: clothes and fabrics, furniture, electronics, photos and keepsakes each get their own treatment.
3. Stored safely in our vaults while your home is repaired
Your cleaned belongings are packed into labeled wooden vaults and held in climate controlled storage in our warehouse, for as long as the repairs to your home take.
4. Returned and put back
When the house is ready, the crew brings everything back and puts it in the rooms the inventory says it came from.
See how it works
What families say after a fire
“We had a house fire last year and Onsite was here to help in every aspect from the beginning all the way to the end!”
Brett W., Google review
“After a devastating fire, On-site was absolutely wonderful and fast at packing up and inventorying everything.”
Sarah C., Google review
“Just had my furniture and possessions returned after cleaning due to fire. What a great company and a great bunch of people to work with.”
Deborah K., Google review
“We were so happy to have many of our belongings returned after a fire 14 months ago, as well as seeing how all had been cleaned, restored, and packaged well.”
Ann Q., Google review
“They stored my items that survived the fire and restored them. Amazing job.”
Brent M., Google review
“Going through the stress of a house fire is hard on its own. On-Site has been very comforting, careful, compassionate and thorough.”
Kelly H., Google review
On-Site is rated 4.8 stars on Google from more than 300 reviews. Read them on Google.
Can my things be saved?
Usually more than people expect. Most clothes and fabrics, most hard goods and many electronics come back when they are handled early and correctly. Food, cosmetics and medicines cannot be kept, and heavily charred items usually cannot either. We tell you which is which at the inventory stage, so nothing is thrown out on a guess.
More detail in our guide: What happens to my belongings after a house fire?
Who pays for it
Contents cover is a normal part of a homeowners policy, and a pack-out is a normal contents claim. What the insurer needs is the itemized inventory, and we produce it as part of the job. Your own policy decides your claim, and the choice of who does the work is yours.
Talk to us today
On-Site Specialty Cleaning + Restoration is based in Warren, with IICRC certified technicians and our own secure contents facility, serving Metro Detroit, southeast Michigan and the Toledo region of northwest Ohio. Always On to help get your life back to normal.