Why is odor so persistent after a fire?

7/14/2022 (Permalink)

When most people think of the consequences of a serious fire, they probably think of total destruction: charred, burnt-out structures that have caved in on themselves with very little left to save.

In reality, most fires are not total destructive losses, and restoration is possible. While the restoration process is not simple and can sometimes take years to complete, the end result is a home restored to preloss condition in an efficient and cost-effective way.

Despite the fact that the home might look basically like new, however, there’s one problem that has a tendency to linger in many people’s minds: the odor.

Smoke odor is a difficult thing to eliminate. On one hand, soot can be invisible to the naked eye and can potentially settle anywhere and everywhere inside a structure.

Often, though, people will complain of an odor even after soot has been eliminated.

The issue is in our brains. Smell is the sense that’s most closely associated with memory, and if we walk into a structure with that memory on our minds, or if we expect to encounter the smell of smoke, then we’re very likely to think that we detect an odor, even when nobody else does.

Our goal when we clean smoke and soot, then, is not only to eliminate the source of odor, but to provide an environment that feels clean, inviting, and odor-free.