The first 24 hours after a house fire: board-up, insurance, and what to do in order

Hour 1: stay out until the fire department clears you back in

House fires reignite. It happens most often in wall cavities, attics, and upholstered furniture where an ember can smolder for hours before it finds enough oxygen. The fire department will do a thermal-imaging sweep before they leave and tell you when it is safe to re-enter. Wait for that clearance, even if the flames are visibly out and it has been an hour. Losing the house twice in one day is not rare.

While you wait, get somewhere warm and dry, count everyone including pets, and start writing down what happened while it is still sharp. Time the fire started, time the department arrived, name of the officer in charge, incident number. That paperwork is what an insurance claim gets built on.

Hour 2: call the right people, in the right order

The order matters. Getting it wrong slows the claim and can cost coverage.

1. Insurance carrier first. Most policies require prompt notice of loss. Call the claims number on your declarations page, not your local agent — the agent works normal hours, the carrier line is 24/7. Get a claim number. Ask what the mitigation-approval process looks like and whether they have a preferred vendor (you are not required to use one, but knowing helps).
2. Restoration crew second. Board-up, tarping, and contents protection is time-sensitive and separate from your insurance conversation. Any competent local crew will handle direct billing to the carrier — you should not be writing checks on day one.
3. Family, work, school last. This is the emotional call, but it is not the urgent one. Handle it once the house is being stabilized.

If the loss is bad enough that you cannot sleep in the house tonight, tell the carrier immediately — most policies include Additional Living Expense (ALE) coverage that pays for a hotel, meals, and pet boarding while you are displaced. It kicks in from the day of the loss but only if you file for it.

Hour 3–6: emergency board-up and tarping

This is the piece people underestimate. A house with broken windows, a punched-through door, or an opened roof is exposed to weather, animals, and anyone who wants to walk in. Insurance carriers know this and expect you to prevent further damage — a homeowner who leaves a house open for a week is often denied on the secondary water or theft losses that follow.

What good board-up looks like: plywood (typically 5/8" or 3/4") cut to fit each opening, secured to the frame with 2x4 backing and lag bolts through the sash — not surface-nailed to trim that will pull out in a storm. Every opening covered, including basement windows and roof vents if the fire vented upward. Tarping over any roof damage with 6-mil poly, wrapped and battened, not just draped.

On the Main Line we aim to be on-site for board-up within two to four hours of the call, day or night. A typical single-family board-up runs three to five hours and costs $600–$1,800 depending on size and roof involvement — almost always covered under the same policy as the fire loss itself. Ask for photo documentation of each opening as it is boarded. That documentation goes straight into your claim.

Hour 6–12: contents and photo inventory

Once the house is secure, the next window is contents. Two things happen in parallel:

Photograph everything before you move it. Wide shots of each room, then close-ups of anything valuable or heirloom. Open closets and cabinets and shoot inside. Adjusters pay against what you document — items you cannot prove existed generally do not get reimbursed. Do this before any pack-out crew touches anything.

Get salvageable soft goods out fast. Clothing, bedding, upholstered furniture, and paper all absorb smoke odor within 24–48 hours in ways that cost significantly more to remediate later. A restoration crew can do a pack-out to an off-site facility for ozone or hydroxyl treatment; do not attempt to wash smoke out of clothes at home first, since heat sets the odor permanently.

Electronics are their own category. Do not power anything on until it has been inspected — smoke residue is acidic and slowly corrodes circuit boards even after the fire is out. Photograph, unplug, and leave for the crew.

Hour 12–24: air quality, structural check, and where you sleep tonight

Even in rooms that never saw flame, smoke and soot travel through the whole HVAC system and settle on every surface. Fine particulate from a house fire includes carbon, plastics, formaldehyde, and (in older Main Line homes) sometimes lead residue from painted trim that burned. This is a real inhalation hazard, not a comfort issue.

Before anyone sleeps in the house again, at minimum: shut off the HVAC system (do not run it — you will spread residue), open windows if weather allows, and get an air-quality assessment scheduled. Air scrubbers with HEPA and activated-carbon filters can bring occupiable rooms back within a day or two; whole-house re-occupancy usually takes longer.

If you have any doubt about structural safety — floors that flex, ceilings that sag, char at load-bearing points — do not stay. This is what ALE coverage exists for.

What not to do in the first 24 hours

• Do not turn the HVAC back on. You will pump smoke residue through every room that was previously untouched, doubling the remediation scope.
• Do not attempt to wipe soot off walls with water. Soot smears; dry chemical sponges (they look like large pink erasers) are the correct tool, and a crew has them.
• Do not throw anything away yet — even things that look destroyed. Your insurance adjuster needs to see what was lost to write the claim.
• Do not sign a general contractor's "assignment of benefits" on day one. That paperwork transfers your insurance rights to them and you may lose control of the claim. Mitigation contracts are fine; full-restoration AOBs deserve a lawyer's eye first.
• Do not accept the first cash offer from a public adjuster or "we buy fire-damaged houses" outfit that shows up. They arrive fast because the numbers work in their favor, not yours.

A few things specific to Main Line houses

The housing stock here matters. A lot of Bryn Mawr, Wayne, Ardmore, and Havertown homes are pre-1950, and some are pre-1900. That changes what a fire does and what mitigation looks like:

• Plaster and lath walls hold smoke residue differently than modern drywall — usually easier to clean but slower to dry if water was used.
• Balloon-frame construction in older twins lets fire and smoke travel vertically inside wall cavities. Fire departments know this and cut inspection holes; that opens more of the wall than you might expect.
• Old knob-and-tube wiring that was fine before a fire may not be after — the ambient heat can degrade insulation without a visible burn. Have it inspected before the power is restored to affected circuits.
• Shared walls in twins and rowhomes mean your neighbor's house may be affected too. Their carrier and yours may need to coordinate; get the neighbor a copy of the incident report the same day.

When to call, and how fast we get there

Once the fire department has cleared the structure, call the number at the top of this page. We answer 24/7 with a real person, not a call center. For board-up and tarping we target two to four hours on the Main Line and near suburbs. We handle direct insurance billing on the mitigation phase, so you are not out of pocket while the claim opens. And we stay on the job as one project lead — the same person who boards up your house is the person you talk to about pack-out, cleaning, air quality, and reconstruction planning.

If you are in the middle of this right now, the single most useful thing you can do next is get on the phone and get someone dispatched. Everything else on this list can wait an hour. That first call cannot.

Frequently asked

Who pays for emergency board-up after a house fire?

In almost every case, your homeowners insurance policy pays for it under the same claim as the fire loss itself. Any competent restoration crew will bill the carrier directly so you are not out of pocket. Keep every receipt if you had to pay anything on the spot — those are reimbursable too.

How long does board-up take, and how long does it stay up?

A typical single-family board-up runs three to five hours. It stays in place until the structure is either restored (weeks to months, depending on scope) or a temporary weather-tight repair is installed. Plywood board-up is not intended to be permanent — leaving it up for months invites moisture problems behind it.

Can I stay in my house the night of the fire?

Sometimes yes, if the fire was contained to one room, the structure is sound, and air quality in unaffected areas is acceptable. Usually no, because smoke and soot travel further than the flames did and are a real inhalation hazard. If in doubt, file for Additional Living Expense coverage and stay somewhere else while the crew assesses.

Do I have to use the vendor my insurance company recommends?

No. You have the right to choose your own mitigation and restoration company. Insurance-preferred vendors are often fine, but they answer to the carrier first — an independent local crew answers to you first. Either way, get the work started; the delay in shopping vendors costs more than the price difference between them.

Is smoke damage in "untouched" rooms really a real thing?

Yes, and it is the part of a fire claim that homeowners most consistently underestimate. Smoke particulate settles on every surface in the house within hours, and the HVAC system spreads it further. Rooms two floors above a kitchen fire routinely need cleaning, deodorization, and sometimes drywall or paint work. The claim should cover all of it — but only if it is documented and assessed.

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