Fire & Smoke · Nassau County
Kitchen fires, oil-furnace puff-back, and smoke damage in Nassau homes, we clean the soot, pull out the odor, and rebuild what the fire took.
Overview
Nassau County is mostly single-family suburban homes, with condos and apartment complexes mixed in. Fires here start with kitchens, electrical faults, chimneys, and, on the many Long Island homes that run on oil heat, furnace puff-back that coats a house in oily soot. Because the homes are full houses, smoke and soot spread across floors and into finished basements, and the water used to fight the fire adds its own damage. We clean it all, remove the odor, and rebuild.
Where We Work
From the Five Towns and the South Shore to Garden City, Hempstead, Hicksville, and the North Shore, we cover all of Nassau County 24/7. See our full fire and smoke damage process, or call 646-543-2242 any time.
Puff-Back
Shut the burner off at its emergency switch, leave it off, and don't wipe the soot. A puff-back happens when oil vapor builds up in the burner and lights all at once.
The bang pushes oily soot out of the burner and flue pipe, through the ducts in a forced-air house, and up the gaps around heating pipes, and it lands on every floor the heat reaches.
Puff-back soot has oil in it. A wet rag or a kitchen spray smears it into the paint, and a wall that could have been cleaned ends up needing primer and paint. We take it off dry first, with HEPA vacuums and dry chemical sponges, then wet-clean.
The burner itself is a job for your oil company or a heating tech. They find out why it misfired and check the flue pipe before anyone turns the heat back on.
In a forced-air house we also clean the duct runs and change the filter, or the first heating cycle blows soot right back into the rooms. Our puff-back guide goes into the causes in more detail.
Chimney Fires
A chimney fire leaves more than soot on the fireplace face. The chimney runs from the basement to the roof, so a fire inside the flue can leave smoke in the attic, stain the walls the chase passes through, and send soot down to the boiler room if the heating system shares that chimney.
The U.S. Fire Administration tells households to have chimneys and vents "cleaned and inspected at least once a year" and to keep anything that can burn at least 3 feet from fireplaces, wood stoves and other heat sources.
A fireplace that gets lit only a few nights a winter is easy to forget about, and that's usually when the yearly sweep gets skipped.
After a chimney fire we check the attic framing around the chase, look for smoke staining on the upstairs walls beside it, and test the basement wall where the flue starts. The fireplace stays out of use until a chimney professional inspects the flue.
How The Job Runs
The first visit is about the water and the openings. Hose water runs down through a house and collects in the finished basement, soaking carpet, padding and the bottom of the drywall.
We pull it out, cut out what can't be dried and set dehumidifiers so it doesn't turn into a water damage problem after the fire. Broken windows and burned-through doors get boarded the same day.
Then soot and contents. Smoke usually reaches every bedroom, so we pack out what can be cleaned, list what can't, and clean the least damaged rooms first. Odor treatment comes after the burned material is gone.
Last is the rebuild. Our own crew handles the kitchen, the drywall, floors and paint through our reconstruction services, and the basement gets closed up only after the readings say it's dry.
Rebuild permits in Nassau come from the town, city or incorporated village where the house sits, such as the Town of Hempstead or a village like Garden City, not from one county office. We ask which one covers your house before any structural work starts.
Nassau County homeowners can reach All Star Restoration at 646-543-2242 for fire and smoke damage, from puff-back cleanup to the rebuild.
Questions
Yes. Oil puff-back leaves an oily soot that smears if wiped wrong. We clean it properly, deodorize, and restore surfaces.
Yes, from soot and odor through full reconstruction, one team the whole way.
Often, yes, if the heat can stay off or a tech has already cleared the burner. We clean room by room and close off the rooms we're working in. If the soot is heavy and it's cold out, we'll tell you plainly when a few nights somewhere else makes more sense.
Not until a chimney professional inspects the flue. A chimney fire can crack the liner, and you can't see that from the hearth. The U.S. Fire Administration advises a cleaning and inspection at least once a year anyway, so ask for both.
Water, fire, mold, or sewage, one call starts the recovery. We show up fast and we do not leave until it is done right.
Call 646-543-2242 Request ServiceRequest Service
We'll call you right back, and give you a free estimate. For an active emergency, the fastest way to reach us is by phone, day or night.