What needs to happen first
- Board-up and roof tarping - the policy requires securing the property
- Extraction of firefighting water before it becomes a second loss
- Soot cleanup within days - it's acidic and keeps etching finishes
- Full documentation before anything is moved - your claim depends on it
What happens when you call
-
Tell us what happened. 30 seconds - what burned and whether the home is secure.
-
You're connected with a local restoration crew while you're on the line.
-
The crew confirms timing and your arrival time - board-up comes first if the house is open.
One crew, start to finish
Fire damage is really three losses at once - burn, smoke, and the water used to put it out. Handling them separately means three contractors arguing over one claim.
A restoration crew runs the whole sequence - secure, dry, clean, deodorize, rebuild - and documents each phase for your insurer, who covers fire losses as core homeowner's coverage.
Local to the five boroughs
New York's pre-war stock fails in New York ways - aging risers and radiator lines burst inside walls, and the upstairs neighbor's overflow becomes your ceiling collapse. Basement and cellar apartments flood fast when cloudbursts overwhelm the sewers, as Ida proved in 2021, and hard freezes still catch pipes in uninsulated shafts.
In New York, sudden pipe and appliance failures are standard covered losses; water that backs up from sewers or drains needs its own endorsement. In multifamily buildings, whose policy pays - yours, the neighbor's, or the building's - turns on where the failure happened, so documentation matters double.
Serving New York, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island, Yonkers, Hoboken, and all of the five boroughs.
Fire damage questions
Can we stay in the house?
Depends on smoke spread and structural safety - the crew tells you straight after inspection. If you can't, most policies pay for temporary housing (loss-of-use coverage); ask your adjuster.
Is fire damage covered by insurance?
Typically yes. Fire is a core homeowner's peril, and coverage usually includes smoke damage, water from firefighting, board-up, and rebuilding, subject to your limits and deductible - check your declarations page for those. Ask the contractor about documentation and coordination with your adjuster.
Should I start cleaning up myself?
It's best to wait on soot cleanup. Wiping soot the wrong way can drive it deeper, and moving debris before photos may reduce what your claim can show. Waiting on cleanup doesn't mean delaying safe steps to prevent further damage, like board-up or tarping once it's safe. Photograph first.