6 Items that Usually Survive House Fires

House fires are devastating. Both to the physical structure itself, and those connected to the home. Fortunately, a home can be rebuilt or restored, and some items have the chance of surviving the heat of the flames and may just need a little cleaning and TLC after the fire. Even the smallest items that survive can mean the world to people who survived the fire damage.

Here is a look at some of the items Alert Disaster Restoration commonly finds that have easily survived a fire inside a Bakersfield home.

1. Fire Safe

This seems like an obvious answer, but homeowners with fire safes end up very thankful they made the initial investment. This is the perfect place to store vital documents like social security cards, birth certificates, and even receipts for expensive items in your home. While we all hope we won’t need these items when a disaster strikes, being able to access them after the fire will make some parts of the recovery process much easier ? and save you trips to places like the Social Security Administration trying to get duplicates of such important life documents.

2. Cookware & Silverware

Unless you have your grandmother’s real silver dinnerware, this may seem less important than some of the other items to survive. But, since they?re metal, there is a good chance your silverware would survive a fire. On the same note, some of your metal cookware is also likely to survive. However, this is becoming less and less common as rubber and plastic handles and lids are being added to cookware sets.

3. Tools

Many tools, especially those made of steel or other hardened metals, can withstand fires of 2,500?F and above.

4. Appliances

Okay, the structure of the appliance itself may survive a serious house fire, but there is a good chance heating and cooling elements, cords, and other key operational components will not. In a less severe fire, appliances are often cleaned up and restored to be perfectly functional again.

5. Filing Cabinets

Steel filing cabinets are built to withstand a fire. This obviously depends on the quality of the filing cabinet itself, but many will survive the fire ? and offer your vital documents a better chance of survival as well over say a wooden desk drawer. However, it is always wise to consider having a firebox for those important documents just to be safe.

6. Jewelry

Gold melts around 2,000?F, platinum at 3,200?F, and diamonds around 6,000?F, so there is a very good chance those items along with other jewelry survived the inferno. Many gemstones like rubies and sapphires have similarly high melting points. This means if you had jewelry in the home, try to search the areas where you stored it. Look carefully!

There are other things that typically survive house fires like silver coins and barbecue grills. At Alert Restoration, we can take the items that survived and do our best to restore them to how they were before the fire, allowing you to hang onto often some of the most precious items from before the fire.