The most devastating type of emergency is a fire in a building, especially your home.  A fire started on the third-floor exterior balcony on the back of Condo Building A, Abingdon Maryland 21009.

The third-floor condo owner was not home at the time, so the fire raged out of control impacting all 12 condos in Building A with fire damage, smoke damage, and water damage.

The fire crossed over to the roof of the condo Building B impacting an additional 12 condos with fire damage, smoke damage and water damage.  The two-alarm fire was out of control and took 60 fire fighters 90 minutes to control the blaze.

Twenty-four families were impacted immediately by the fire and were essentially homeless within minutes.  They had to grab what they could take with them and leave the building.  No people or pets were harmed in the fire.

Our owner, Dave Chmura from Elegant Restoration, Inc. was on site within the first hour to assist the Property Manager with anything they needed and to assess the damage.  Dave reached out immediately to our Security Company to provide security guards to protect the buildings over night to insure the property was secure and safe from vandals.  It is essential to have someone onsite overnight in case the fire reignited.

Elegant Restoration the fire damage specialist was ready to respond the next day to start the process of securing the uninhabitable buildings.

• Turn off the electricity with BGE
• Plywood to board up the windows
• Temporary fencing around both buildings
• Security onsite until both buildings are secure

In addition to the building, and more importantly, speaking with each condo owner to ask key questions.

• Did you get all your medications out of the condo last night?
• Do you have any firearms in your condo that need to found and removed?
• Do you have other important items you need (Cash, medical equipment, technology, etc.)
• Who is your insurance company, and do you have a claim number?
• Where are staying now and what your phone number?

The fire damage cleanup process was scheduled for each condo.  The contents in Condo Building A were severely damaged.  Some items needed to be discarded and all the condo contents were packed out and moved to a cleaning facility.   All condo contents will be held in storage until the condo owner is able to move back into a temporary home.

Now all the contents were removed, the Elegant Restoration fire damage team began the demolition process removing drywall, ceilings, and flooring. These items must be removed before drying can begin.

Elegant Restoration used large drying equipment called dehumidifiers and fans throughout each building to dry the entire remaining structure.

Once the building was completely dry based on industry standards from Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) the building was turned over to the general contractor to begin the reconstruction process.