Trash or Keep?

8/9/2021 (Permalink)

This is a local fire where food needed to be disposed of.

What to Toss After a Fire

After a fire, there are some items you may be able to salvage and restore. However, there are other items that you should throw away. If you’re not sure what is worth keeping and what you should get rid of, check out these three suggestions:

1. Makeup. After spending hundreds of dollars on the best foundations, concealers, and eyeshadow palettes, no one wants to trash some of their most valuable makeup. Unfortunately, the makeup you’d normally wear may no longer be in such good condition due to the high flame heat. Some of these products may have melted and are no longer usable at all.

2. Medication. If your medicine cabinet was slightly destroyed by the fire and smoke in the home, throw away the medication and talk to your physician about getting refills. Most physicians are understanding about situations like this because it’s not safe to take medication that has been exposed to such heat in the first place.

3. Food. If food smells like smoke and there is soot on it, toss it in the trash. You may not like the idea of wasting food you’ve purchased, but it’s simply not safe to eat any contaminated food due to the chemicals commonly used to put out fires. You never know if those chemicals are on certain products, such as your bread, crackers, and even your box of cereal, so don’t take any risks.