Soft contents restoration saves insurer over £21k following devastating fire
This lovely cottage was home to Mrs Pedley, her husband, 2 teenage daughters 3 cats and 3 dogs. They were renting the property and had only been there for 18 months when a fire ripped through the property.
This major fire in Hook, Hampshire, that was on the national news. The whole property was devastated, there were 13 fire brigade appliances in attendance and local surrounding roads were closed for safety.
The family of 4 were unharmed during the incident, however they only escaped with the clothes they had on.
It was thought the fire was started by faulty electrical wiring.
The property is a thatch cottage built in the1600s and is part of the Duke of Wellington Estate.
DisasterCare South Central were on site within 12 hours, at which time we removed several sentimental and emergency items for the customer.
We were only allowed in certain parts of the property as the fire brigade were still on site.
Day 2
The whole cottage had been badly affected and on day 2 and once the fire appliances were all finished and the parts of the property that were deemed safe, our team began going through the property to save any contents we could. Our main aim this day was soft contents as we knew the customer needed any soft contents back as soon as possible.
During this visit to inspect the level of damage, all soft contents we could access were removed and transported to our secure facility for the restoration to begin with high priority.
| Client | Mrs Pedley |
|---|---|
| Location | Hook, Hampshire |
| Loss Date | 05/02/2020 |
| First Attended Site | 06/02/2020 |
| Works Completed | 13/04/2020 |
| Duration of Claim | 15 Weeks |
| Replacement Value | £32,993.27 |
| Restoration/Clean Cost | £11,547.64 |
| Insurance Savings | £21,445.63 |
| Total Number of Items Restored | 952 |
| Total Ber/Not Restored | 0 |
| Success Rate | 100% |
Day – Processing – Soft Contents Facility
Any soft content we removed from the property had very bad fire damage and the customer was unsure what we would be able to restore, they were keen for us to restore as much as possible from the contents we had. All soft items were cleaned and processed through our exclusive soft contents machine known as ‘DC-4000’. All remaining contents were successfully cleaned to a high standard, wrapped and packed out into storage awaiting the return to the customer. The process took 7 days in total.
“The DC 4000 is now a pivotal player in our Restoration Industry. The DC 4000 is the newest in a line of highly advanced, game-changing washing systems designed to clean 90% of soft contents, our third-party independent laboratory testing has verified that the DC 4000 Wash System restores heavy soot, mould and Category 2 & 3 water damaged contents to food grade clean standard”.
Total Duration for textile Processing and pack out: 12 Days
This Cutlery and teapot (shown opposite) were all hand cleaned individually, a full day of work the cost of labour and products to complete was approximately £200, however the replacement value would have been over £450.
These contents had sentimental value to the customer and they were antiques so being able to restore these for the customer gave our team great satisfaction and should show how willing we were to meet the customers request to restore everything we possibly could.
Day 12
Mrs Pedley’s clothing had been processed as a high priority due to the need for clothing for the whole family – all were returned to the customer within 12 Days. The items were ready within 7 days however the policy holder didn’t manage to attend our secure unit to select the items of soft contents they required. We would normally deliver soft contents back to the customer, however due to spacing within temporary accommodation the customer could only take so much of their clothes. We stored the remaining items in the secure unit until the customer had located a new property and we then delivered all contents back to the customer.
Impacts/Outcome
Due to the type of contamination from the fire it was clear that we had to act quickly so we set a 7-day target for all soft contents to be cleaned and processed. We attended the site and collected all items within 12 hours of the claim being received. Throughout the whole process communication was made regularly to inform the customer of the outcomes of the contents being restored.
Impact to the customer was always kept to a minimum due to quick acting of DisasterCare South Central who were able to process all the soft contents through the DC 4000.
