Contents pack-out and cleaning for Mountain Shadows homes

Open-plan, two-story houses spread smoke widely, so after a fire the belongings in nearly every room may smell or carry film. If the walls, ceilings and ducts all need cleaning, it is faster and safer to take contents out than to clean around them. A pack-out also makes sense when firefighting water reached the lower level, where boxes and furniture on wet carpet keep absorbing it, and when the house will stand empty during repairs.

After a wildfire with no fire inside, contents cleaning may be the largest part of the job. Clothing in closets, bedding, drapes and upholstered furniture absorb fine smoke, while most hard surfaces clean quickly. The general process is on the contents pack-out and cleaning page.

Families who lived through 2012 often say the hardest part was remembering what they owned. A pack-out inventory with photos gives you a head start; add to it from receipts, card statements, online orders and old photos that show rooms in the background. For owner-occupied homes lost in a governor-declared wildfire disaster, Colorado requires insurers to offer at least 65% of contents coverage without a full inventory, with an inventory needed for the rest. Ask your insurer whether that applies to your loss.

Keep receipts for clothing and essentials you buy while displaced. Many policies cover additional living expenses while a home is unlivable, and the Mountain Shadows area page has more on the neighborhood's recovery history.

Families on the northwest side who were evacuated in 2012 often keep a box ready now: passports, birth certificates, insurance policies, medicines, chargers, a hard drive or photo backup, and a printed list of valuables with photos. If a fire ever does happen, that box makes the pack-out easier, because the most important items are already out of the house and the inventory has a starting point.

Store a copy of the inventory and policy outside the house as well, in the cloud or with family, so a fire does not take your records with it.

Hillside garages hold a lot: tools, bikes, camping gear, coolers, paint and garden chemicals. Metal tools and bikes usually clean up; soft gear such as tents and sleeping bags needs washing; and damaged batteries, fuel cans and chemicals are set aside for proper disposal rather than packed with household goods.

When the house is ready, contents come back by room label. Check electronics and fragile items as they are unpacked and note any problems right away. If walls were repainted or floors replaced, give fresh finishes the curing time the contractor recommends before heavy furniture goes back against them.

Items soaked by firefighting water in the lower level are the most urgent part of any pack-out here, because paper, fabric and wood can start growing mold within a couple of days. Smoky but dry belongings can wait a little longer without getting worse. Crews therefore usually empty wet rooms first, freeze or dry important papers and photos, and then move on to the smoky upper floors.