# Emergency: what to do first after a property loss The four safety rules that override everything else, and the first hour checklist for a burst pipe, house fire, sewage backup, storm intrusion > Source: https://servpronorhfremont.com/emergency/ > Last reviewed: 2026-08-21 --- Read this before anything else ## Water and electricity If there is standing water in a room with outlets, appliances, or an electrical panel, do not enter. Shut off power at the panel only if the panel is dry and you can reach it without stepping in water. Otherwise, call your utility or 911 from outside. ## Ceilings, floors and fire-weakened structure A bulging or sagging ceiling is holding weight and can come down. Stay out from under it. After a fire, do not go in until the fire department has released the structure — fire weakens framing, and hot spots reignite. ## Carbon monoxide and smoke inhalation Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas. CDC lists the most common symptoms of poisoning as headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain and confusion, and describes them as flu-like. If a CO alarm is sounding, or anyone has these symptoms, get everyone and every pet outside first, then call 911 from outside. Do not go back in. ## Biohazard exposure Sewage, blood, or other potentially infectious material should not be cleaned without training and protective equipment. Exposure to bloodborne pathogens is an occupational hazard governed by a federal standard for a reason. - Home - Emergency # Emergency - Fire & smoke - Water - Biohazard - Mold Caution — limited conditions Only under the specific conditions stated. If any of them do not hold, stop. Read the four warnings above before you do anything else. Then go to the first hour checklist, which is ordered and works on a bad connection. Make it safe, stop the source, document before you move anything, open the claim, secure the property, and do not sign anything yet. ## The first hour - Make it safe. The four warnings above are the whole list. - Stop the source if the shutoff is dry and reachable. - Photograph and film before you move anything. - Open the claim yourself , using the number on your policy. - Secure the property against further damage, and keep the receipts. - Do not sign anything yet. ## Start here # Link to this section The first hour — the ordered checklist. If you read one page, read that one. ## By event # Link to this section Each of these produces more than one kind of damage. The order below is what actually happens. - After a house fire — fire, smoke, suppression water, then mold ## Naming what you have # Link to this section Guidance that does not name these is not specific enough to act on, which is why every page here does. - Water is graded by category. Category 1 is clean supply water. Category 2 is significantly contaminated. Category 3 is grossly contaminated — sewage, rising external water. The category decides what gets dried and what gets removed, and it degrades with time. - Smoke is graded by residue type. Dry smoke, wet smoke, protein residue and fuel-oil soot behave differently and depend on what burned, not on how big the fire was. - Coverage turns on the peril , and for water, on whether it came from inside the building or outside it. ## Sewage and biohazard get the strongest treatment # Link to this section Category 3 water and biohazard are health hazards, not mopping jobs. Porous materials they contact generally cannot be salvaged by drying or cleaning — they are removed. That is a demolition scope, not a drying scope, and it is the single largest cost difference in a water loss. See water categories and biohazard . ## Sources Every source cited on this page - T1 Mold, Moisture and Your Home — EPA (accessed 2026-08-21) - T2 ANSI/IICRC S500 — IICRC (accessed 2026-08-21) Written by: PLACEHOLDER — Restoration Reviewer Reviewed by: PLACEHOLDER — Claims Reviewer Safety reviewed by: PLACEHOLDER — Restoration Reviewer Last reviewed: 2026-08-21