First 24 hours, in order
- Let the fire department finish
Re-entry before the structure is cleared is the most common second injury after a house fire. Ask the incident commander for the fire report number; your carrier will want it.
- Call your insurance carrier
Open the claim from the scene if you can. Ask two things: your additional living expense (ALE) coverage amount, and whether you can hire your own emergency services contractor. In Illinois you can.
- Secure the building the same day
Open windows, burned-through doors, and roof holes invite weather, animals, and liability. Your policy requires you to mitigate further damage. Board-up and tarping are covered emergency services on nearly every homeowner policy.
- Document before anyone cleans
Wide photos of every room, close-ups of high-value items, video walkthroughs. Nothing gets thrown away yet, even things that look ruined. Adjusters pay on documented loss.
- Get power, gas, and water shut off confirmed
The fire department usually kills utilities, but confirm with ComEd and Peoples Gas before anyone works inside.
- Stabilize what smoke touched
Soot is acidic. Within days it permanently etches glass, pits metal, and yellows finishes. A restoration crew applies corrosion inhibitors and starts filtered air movement long before full cleanup begins.
What not to touch
The instinct after a fire is to start cleaning. It is almost always the expensive choice. Wiping soot with household cleaners smears acid residue deeper into drywall and fabric. Running the furnace or A/C pulls soot through the ductwork into rooms the fire never reached. Plugging in electronics that took heat or water can short them permanently, and turns a restorable item into a total loss.
- Do not wipe walls, ceilings, or countertops. Dry soot lifts with chemical sponges; wet methods set it.
- Do not run HVAC, ceiling fans, or bathroom fans.
- Do not eat anything, including canned goods, exposed to heat or smoke.
- Do not launder smoke-damaged clothing in a home machine; ozone and specialty detergents do what one wash cycle cannot.
- Do not throw anything out before the adjuster or your contractor documents it.
Working the insurance claim
Our founder spent 20 years in claims and claims management before opening ACR South, and this is where that shows. The claim moves on paperwork, not sympathy. What speeds it up: a same-day emergency mitigation invoice, a photographed inventory of contents, and a scope of loss written in the estimating format adjusters actually use (Xactimate). What slows it down: verbal agreements, discarded items, and cleanup that starts before documentation ends.
Ask your adjuster early about ALE, contents coverage limits, and code-upgrade coverage; Chicago's building code often requires electrical and egress upgrades during fire repairs on older housing stock, and that coverage line matters.
Chicago specifics
In the city, a structure fire triggers a Department of Buildings review, and significant damage can result in placarding until repairs are permitted. Keep the fire report number from CFD; permits, insurance, and (if you rent) your landlord communications all reference it. In two-flats and three-flats, smoke migrates through shared walls and utility chases, so a unit that never saw flame can still carry a real smoke claim. In the suburbs, your village may require a permit before board-up removal and reconstruction; we pull these routinely in DuPage, Will, and Cook County towns.
What happens after day one
Once the property is secure and documented, restoration runs in a fixed order: contents pack-out to a climate-controlled facility, structural demolition of unsalvageable material, soot and odor remediation (HEPA air scrubbing, thermal fogging, ozone or hydroxyl treatment), then drying of any water the fire department left behind, and finally reconstruction. A typical kitchen fire in a Chicago bungalow runs four to eight weeks from loss to move-back; whole-structure losses run longer. One contractor handling mitigation, contents, and rebuild keeps your claim in one scope and your timeline in one set of hands.
