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Fire and Smoke Recovery

Wildfires have been very destructive in the western half of the US in the late 2010's and early 2020’s.  As for the future, a 2022 report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and GRID-Arendal projects an increase in extreme fires by 14% by 2030, 30% by the end of 2050, and 50% by 2100, due to climate change and land-use change. (breezometer.com)  

Fire disasters, like natural disasters, do not just destroy what the fire touches.  They can disrupt major infrastructures like highways and railways, power and water, and most important, air quality.  Because fires may smolder for some time, try to prepare to deal with the effects for weeks. 

If you live in an area prone to wildfires or prevailing winds that may carry smoke, here are some ways to prepare:

• Seal doors and windows with weatherstripping, caulk and door sweeps.  
• Find out how to adjust your HVAC system accordingly: you’ll want to close the fresh air intake and change over to recirculation, no matter whether you have central AC, a window air conditioner or portable air conditioner.
• Purchase extra MERV 13 or higher filters for your HVAC system, to be used on poor air quality days.
• If you live in an apartment building or condo with little control over the HVAC, consider purchasing vent filter material so you can place them in the vents into your space. Carbon vent filter material will neutralize many VOCs as well.
• Purchase a HEPA air cleaner (non-ozone producing type) and be sure to have an extra filter or two on hand.    
• Keep a number of N95 respirator masks on hand.    
• Keep canned food and bottled water on hand.
• Stock up on essentials for cleaning smoke odor: baking soda, white vinegar, rags, TotalClean

During:

• Try not to cook during a wildfire emergency, because cooking indoors increases small particulates and vapors in the air, and you won’t want to turn on your stove exhaust, as that will draw polluted outdoor air into the house.  Try to use just the canned food you have on hand.
• Monitor the filters in your HVAC system and air purifiers and change them when you start to notice a color change on the front of the filter, or when the output air starts to smell like smoke. 
• Check your local air quality and receive updates from airnow.gov . Fire and smoke maps are available under the heading fire.airnow.gov.  You can also register for a free 14-day trial of Breezometer’s Air Quality app.  Below is a diagram to understand air quality index values (airnow.gov).
• Use N95 respirators to evacuate to a safer place if necessary.  

Source: airnow.gov

After:  

• Don’t open windows and doors until the air quality index is less than 100.  When that happens, you can open windows fully to get more fresh air ventilation. 
• Set up fans near doors and windows to “push” smoke odor and soot outside.

To remove smoke odor that infiltrated from outside, or if you had a fire in your home:

• Run air purifier(s) continuously with charcoal filters. 
• Sprinkle baking soda over carpets and rugs and leave it overnight.  Then using a vacuum with HEPA filter, vacuum out the carpets.  
• Remove drapes, towels, and any hanging fabric exposed to smoke, and either launder it in your washing machine or send it for professional cleaning.  When washing it yourself, you can add a cup of distilled white vinegar to your regular laundry detergent to remove smoke.  Don’t machine dry the item until the odor has been removed; it may need an additional washing cycle.
• Wipe down all hard surfaces, including walls, ceilings, floors and windows with TotalClean or a 1:1 mixture of warm water and white vinegar (TotalClean is more gentle than vinegar and can be used on stone, wood, etc.)  Dispose of rags or wash them out with mild detergent and water as you go.  

To clean fabric-upholstered items:

• Try to remove any cushion covers that are washable.  
• Clean bare foam cushions by using “air replacement”:  Place the cushion into a large vacuum-seal bag and sprinkle baking soda over it.  Seal the bag and use your HEPA vacuum to remove the air from inside the cushion.  Let the air back into the bag to re-inflate the cushion.   Repeat several times if necessary. 
• Sprinkle baking soda over the piece and let it set overnight before vacuuming it off.
• You can also move the piece outside to air it out in the sun.  
• It’s difficult to remove smoke that’s settled into furniture, however, if it does not dissipate following using an ozone generator, you can contact a restoration company for their services if it’s a valuable piece to you.

Try an Ozone Generator to remove smoke odors:

• Ozone generators should only be used once all surfaces that can be cleaned are thoroughly cleaned (walls, floors and ceilings too!).  
• Ozone is not as effective in areas of high humidity, so running the air conditioner or a dehumidifier in the space to get the humidity down (60% or less) is advisable.  Central air conditioning and any exhaust fans must be shut down when using the ozone generator, though, because you’ll want the ozone to stay in the space. 
• Use fan(s) within the space to circulate the ozone.
• Ozone generators cannot be used in the presence of people, pets or plants, but once these are removed, they can be quite effective in removing smoke.  Follow all instructions to seal up the space and allow it to work for the full time advised before ventilating.  Contact HypoAir regarding rental of our ozone generators, or local restoration companies may rent ozone generators.    

For large areas with open walls and ceilings such as basements, garages or gutted homes, consider having them soda blasted by professionals to remove soot and smoke odor from the structure in hard-to-reach places.  Baking soda’s legendary cleaning and odor-absorption qualities can produce amazing results when combined with commercial equipment and a skilled contractor.

Don’t: 

• Spray deodorizers or fresheners to “cover up” the smell of smoke, because they do nothing to remove the contaminants, and many have toxic ingredients in them.
• Attempt to live in spaces with heavy smoke damage until they are cleaned.  “Third-hand smoke” is the term used for the way carbon and chemicals in the smoke react to the materials in your home, and it can make you very ill.
• Neglect flood remediation if the smoke damage was part of a fire in your home and fire response crews extinguished it using water.  Building materials must be removed or dried thoroughly within 48 hours in order to prevent mold growth. 

What is Third-Hand Smoke?  Is it Dangerous?

Smoke smells take a long time to dissipate.  I have bought wooden furniture, clothing, an SUV, and a couch from smokers (with months to years between these purchases) and I remember thinking at the time, this is not too bad.  This thought probably occurred after my sense of smell had already been deadened in the smoker’s home.  Then, I put the item in my car (or drove the SUV home) and thought, Ok, I just need to air it out well. Then, I got to my non-smoking home and realized WOW!  It was bad.  What do I need to do now?  Throw it out?  I gave the couch away to another smoker, but I managed to "salvage" the other things.  That was before I knew about the dangers of third-hand smoke.

For someone who is conditioned to recycle and reuse, throwing an item away may seem like an extreme measure, but you should consider what is making the smell.  It’s called third-hand smoke.  Smoke released in a room or car contains toxic chemicals like nicotine that cling to and penetrate walls, clothing, upholstery and other surfaces (mayoclinic.org). Results of a study published in 2010 found that when this nicotine reacts with nitrous acid in the air, it forms carcinogens, which are compounds that can cause cancer. (health.clevelandclinic.org)  It’s not clear how much damage third-hand smoke does to our bodies, but it can cause DNA breaks and is thought to be more dangerous to children.  Clearing third-hand smoke is not as easy as wiping down and airing out the item, because the “off-gassing” may occur over years. 

Sadly, we often have clients who need help dealing with smoke clean-up.  Here are some examples of how to clean smoke-contaminated items:

Ozone generators: Ozone is a proven way to remove smoke from surfaces and even within soft furnishings.  For years, hotels and auto detailers have relied on ozone generators to remove smoke from hotel rooms and cars quickly (in a matter of hours).  Because there are three oxygen atoms in an ozone molecule, it is unstable, and the extra oxygen molecule will break away and bind to other molecules, converting them to safer, less odorous molecules.  In the high concentrations that are needed to remove smells, the EPA warns that ozone can cause damage to our health, plants, rubber, electrical wire coatings, fabrics, and the dyes and pigments in some artwork.  Therefore, it’s not safe to breathe and should only be used for 2-4 hours and then the space sealed off for some time before ventilation (up to several days for maximum effect). (It’s tough to get rid of cigarette smells, but an ozone treatment can do it)

To get the most effectiveness out of the ozone treatment, all surfaces in the room or car should be thoroughly cleaned first, then you can use an ozone generator like this one to finish the smoke removal in small spaces.  The end of this video describes the safe use of the ozone generator in a car.

Vehicles:  Like couches and furniture, seat cushions don’t give up the smell very easily.  Here is an excellent video that recommends Citrol 266 used in a specific way to remove smoke permanently from fabric (but it's NOT for use on plastics).  

It’s important to realize that when the car ventilation is running, smoke can pollute the cabin air filter.  It’s best to replace the filter with a new one.

If the item is small and relatively inexpensive, you could consider tossing it and accepting the loss.  However, whole homes can be contaminated with third-hand smoke, and although costly, rehabilitation is quite possible.  

• Carpeting and drapery is sometimes successfully cleaned with Citrol 266 at a 10:1 dilution (see video for application tips–don’t use on wood or plastics), or by using an ozone generator.  If not, these soft items should be removed and discarded because the chemicals from the smoke have penetrated to the padding, which is not accessible.
• If removing and replacing the drywall is not an option, walls can be painted to seal in the odor by carefully cleaning and priming them before painting.  This article gives advice from a professional painter on painting smoke-impregnated walls.  He lists one non-toxic degreaser (Krud-Kutter), with an alternative more toxic one (TSP).  We would add that Earth Clean is an excellent non-toxic de-greaser that can be used on many other surfaces in the home even after the smoke is gone; the strength is customizable by adding water.  The primer (BIN) solvent completely evaporates and can be covered by any low-VOC paint.  
• Ceilings can easily be overlooked, but they are just as (or more) smoke-absorbent than the walls!  If the ceiling is a popcorn ceiling or other decorative finish that is easily damaged by water and scrubbing, it's best to get professional help to remove it and resurface the drywall. Often popcorn texture was used to hide bad taping and floating jobs so you'll need help to get the ceiling looking good without this camouflage.
• Hidden in your walls, ventilation ducts can hold a lot of third-hand smoke.  Particularly, the evaporator coil can trap dust and toxins, and is best cleaned by a technician (they can actually remove and clean it chemically).  This is different from cleaning the ducts alone.  If the ventilation ducts are internally insulated with fiberboard, this material is very difficult to clean safely, and the ducts may need to be replaced or encapsulated (sprayed with a coating that traps the toxins and prevents their release into the air).    
• If you can clean the flooring with water and cleaner, it may take several rinses to get all of the nicotine and residual chemicals from the surface.  Vinegar can be helpful in this process, but again, non-toxic Earth Clean will lend professional strength to the job.  If the flooring cannot be cleaned by water, such as hardwoods, you can seal it with a number of safer products (see this article).  Professional remediation is possible but may require chemical stripping or sanding, which can release a lot of PM and VOCs.  As a last resort, you may need to budget flooring replacement! 
• Finally, the insides of cupboards, undersides of tables, backsides of bookcases, insides of closets and mattresses are all overlooked places that smoke can hide.  Solid wood cupboards and furniture can be cleaned using Earth Clean also, but particle-board cupboards and furniture is likely to harbor even more smoke, and cleaning these with loads of water risks them soaking up water and becoming moldy. These places may be hard to clean but likely have a significant smoke reservoir.  If you can, adding a coat of sealer or primer (Earthpaint has a number of non-toxic sealers and primers) will finish the job.

It's all about thinking hard about where those wisps of smoke went and then going on a "seek and destroy" mission to eliminate them!