Do's

• If the outside temperature is above 60 degrees, use dehumidifiers if available.
• Use fans to circulate the air and assist drying.
• Remove as much water as possible by mopping and blotting.
• Wipe furniture dry.
• Lift draperies off carpet, loop through a coat hanger, and place the hanger on the drapery rod.
• Prop up wet furniture cushions for even drying and place small wood blocks or aluminum foil under furniture legs.
• Remove wet area rugs or other floor coverings.
• Open furniture drawers, closet doors, and luggage to enhance drying.
• Move photos, paintings, and art objects to a safe, dry location.
• Remove wet fabrics and dry them as soon as possible. Hang furs and leather goods to dry separately at room temperature.
• Remove damp books from shelves and spread out to dry.
• If damage occurs during a cool season, leave heat on; if in summer, use an air conditioner if available.

Don'ts

• Do not use an ordinary household vacuum to remove water.
• Do not use electrical appliances while on wet carpet or wet floors.
• Do not go into rooms with standing water if the electricity is still on.
• Do not lift tacked down carpet without professional help. Lifting the carpet incorrectly could promote shrinkage.
• Do not wait to call Brouwer Bros. Steamatic for professional help. Damage from the water and bacteria growth can begin within hours.

Do's

• Blow off or brush-vacuum loose soot particles from upholstery, drapes, and carpets.
• Cover carpeted traffic areas with towels or old linens to prevent additional soiling.
• Discard open food packages. The food could be contaminated.
• If electrical service is off, clean out your freezer and refrigerator. Leave the doors propped open or place charcoal in the unit.
• Send clothing with heavy smoke damage to a qualified professional dry cleaner.
• Clean Formica and chrome fixtures in the kitchen and bathroom to prevent permanent tarnishing.
• Wipe residue from porcelain bath fixtures to prevent etching.
• Wipe the leaves of houseplants to remove smoke residue.
• Change the air filter on your furnace if it uses forced hot air.
• Tape cheesecloth over intake and outlet air registers to capture any loose soot in the air. This is even more effective if the cheesecloth is damp.
• If the outside temperature is above 60 degrees, air out the house to reduce smoke odor.

Don'ts

• Do not attempt to wash any papered or flat painted walls without consulting your professional cleaner. Incorrect cleaning procedures could compound the soot residue problem.
• Do not attempt to clean carpets or upholstered furniture. Again, incorrect procedures could increase damage.
• Do not use electrical appliances that have been close to fire or water before having them checked. They could malfunction.
• Do not use ceiling fixtures if the ceiling is wet. A short circuit could result.
• Do not touch anything. Soot on your hands can permeate upholstery, walls, and woodwork, causing further damage.
• Do not eat food that has been exposed to fire or smoke.
• Do not wait to call Brouwer Bros. Steamatic for professional help.

THE FIRST 24 HOURS of exposure to the effects of Fire or Water could determine if electronic equipment can be saved. This plan is intended only as a guideline for deciding if professional restoration services maybe required. Testing will help to determine the extent of exposure from the following potential sources of damage:

Examples of electronic equipment that may have a limited life if not treated within 24 hours:

THE FIRST ACTION IS TO DE-ENERGIZE

The first action is to immediately de-energize and disconnect all equipment including any battery backups. Not only is there a danger to personnel working in the area and a danger of fire from electrical shorts, but electrochemical action can plate contaminants onto printed circuit boards and associated connectors and backplates. The reverse action may permanently remove metals.

CONTROL THE HUMIDITY

The first objective of restoration is to remove the contaminants. If all of the equipment cannot be cleaned simultaneously, it is important that immediate steps be taken to arrest the corrosion process. The most important step is to control the humidity !! Corrosion occurs very slowly if the relative humidity is below 50%. Testing will help determine which dehumidification process is best suited; Refrigerant or Desiccant, both have advantages if properly utilized.

• Maintain the electronics in an area where the relative humidity is below 50%.
• Move to another area if necessary to maintain the humidity and temperature balance.
• If you cannot move the electronics, seal each piece from the outside elements. Be careful not to trap moisture inside the chassis. Desiccants may be required.
• If water or liquids from the fire suppression systems are visible, perform the steps outlined under the heading "Water Damage" first.

TESTING TO ASSESS THE DAMAGE

Two basic measurements should be made to assess the corrosion potential in a loss involving electrical / electronic equipment. The first is a surface concentration of halogenides to determine the chloride corrosion potential. The second test is pH, a measure of acidity of the contaminant. These tests are run on hard horizontal surfaces not disturbed by cleaning efforts. The importance of these tests and their interpretation is critical for establishing a baseline and a cleaning protocol.

CORROSION CONTROL

In cases of severe contaminant concentration, a special non-petroleum preservative may be sprayed on the equipment to exclude moisture and air. This very thin film is designed to be removed easily in the restoration process later.

ESTABLISH A CLEANING AND QUALITY PROTOCOL

Once the corrosion process is stabilized, the appropriate cleaning and quality protocols will be designed and applied by BMS Special Technologies. A written Scope of Work will detail specific concerns to assure quality compliance to industry and Mil Spec. Standards.

FIRE DAMAGE - EFFECTS AND PROCEDURES

Equipment which has suffered thermal damage as evidenced by cosmetic aberrations in plastic components may not be restored. Besides heat, a fire generates combustion byproducts. These byproducts are locked into the soot which condenses on all cool surfaces. Smoke exposure during the fire for a relatively short time does little damage, but the particulate deposited may contain active corrosive components. These components in the presence of humidity and oxygen will corrode metal surfaces. Irreversible damage can occur in the time period of a few days.

WATER DAMAGE - EFFECTS AND PROCEDURES
WARNING: DO NOT ENERGIZE ANY WET EQUIPMENT - REMOVE POWER

It is a popular misconception that electronic equipment exposed to water is permanently damaged. Water which has sprayed, splashed, or dripped onto electronic equipment can be easily removed. Even equipment which has been totally submerged can be restored. The most important issue in the amount of damage is whether the equipment was powered at the time of exposure. As in the case of fire created corrosives, immediate countermeasures are imperative!!

• Open cabinet doors, remove side panels and covers, and pull out chassis drawers to allow water to run out of the equipment.
• Remove standing water with wet vacs. Use low pressure air (50 psi) to blow trapped water out of the equipment. Absorbent cotton pads (diapers?) can be used to blot up water. Use appropriate caution around header pins and backplane wire wrap connectors to avoid bending.
• Vacuum and mop up water under any raised computer room floor.
• Equipment which contains open relays and transformers will require a special bake out before application of power.
• Water displacement aerosol lubricant sprays may be used to protect critical components.

• Wash any egg or other residue from the building exterior.
• Remove any debris or food from carpets or interior walls. Scrape or blot carpets and furniture--do not rub.
• Vacuum glass particles from carpet and upholstery. Do not walk barefoot in the area of glass residue.
• Save any information about the type of liquid that was spread over surfaces.
• Make a list of all damage.

• Do not attempt to remove chemical stains such as ink or paint.
• Do not operate damaged electrical appliances.
• Do not throw away damaged wood chips or other small articles. They might be helpful for repair.
• Do not use household cleaning products on fabrics, upholstery, or carpet without consulting Brouwer Bros. Steamatic.

The First 24 Hours of exposure to the effects of Fire or Water will usually determine if emergency steps need to be taken to clean, restore and preserve magnetic data storage media. This plan is intended only as a guideline for deciding if professional restoration services maybe required due to exposure from the following potential sources of damage:

The media under consideration includes but is not limited to:

DO NOT USE MAGNETIC MEDIA THAT HAS BEEN EXPOSED TO CONTAMINANTS

The most important asset, which must be preserved after a disaster, is the critical data on magnetic media. A professional should examine media that has been exposed to contaminants before any attempt is made to use them. A 95% to 100% restoration success is possible predicated on 72 to 96 hour response time.

Removable Hard Disk Platters
Removable hard disk platters exposed to smoke often have particulate matter on the surface that must be professionally cleaned prior to activation. Hard disk data can be partially saved - even after a head crash. This process is very labor intensive and requires special equipment in a clean room. Contaminated media is replaced with clean media. Restoration of data is a process involving the emergency cleaning of the media so that data may be copied onto other media. The original media will be discarded (or archived).

Disk Read/Write Heads
Disk read/write heads are subject to severe damage if an attempt is made to operate with media which is not clean. A "head crash" caused by particulate on the surface of the hard disk media will not only damage the drive, but may cause loss of data.

Floppy Disks
Floppy disks with hard particulate matter on the surface could cause damage to the oxide layer and may destroy data as the floppy spins. Water can dissolve the adhesive between the substrate and the magnetic oxide coating resulting in loss of data. If the media is wet, keep it wet until professional restoration.

Magnetic Tapes
Tapes must be dry and clean before any attempt is made to copy the data. * Initial mitigation includes removing standing water. Open cartridge access door and shake out water. Use clean low pressure air to force water off. Remove rings on reel tape for the same purpose. * Keep the media wet until restoration can be applied. Use zip-lock bags, plastic trash-can liners, etc. * Do NOT attempt to dry with heat!!!!

Optical Media
A CD disk contains from 650 mb to over a gigabyte depending upon format. This data layer is read through the optically clear substrate material by a low power laser diode. Anything such as a scratch or particulate can interfere and cause a data error. The protective lacquer coating on CD-ROM disks can be very thin. The lacquer coating side of a CD is the side with the printed label, artwork, and/or track information. If this layer is scratched, the data layer is directly exposed to the environment and degrades at an accelerated rate. The surface must be protected until restoration can be used to remove contaminants. If optical media is wet, keep wet until it can be cleaned.

Magneto Optical (CD RW) is processed the same as other optical media.

Microfilm, Microfiche, X-Ray Film
The most important thing to know about microfilm is that once the film is wet do not let it dry!! The film must be processed while still wet or the gelatin coating will stick to the next layer and the document information will be torn from the film. Here again, speed is of the essence:

Preventing Damage to Paper, Books and Microfilm

One of the most daunting tasks faced by record managers is recovering wet documents. Fire suppression, floods, rain, sprinkler pipe breaks and other disasters can leave paper records, microfilm and microfiche soaked with water. While you might think otherwise, 100 percent recovery is possible if you respond quickly. The basic strategy is to keep photographic media from drying and blocking, and to freeze paper documents to prevent further damage (which is the only way to save gloss finished paper). Here are the steps you should follow for recovery:

1. Seal the film. Photographic media (microfilm, microfiche and x-ray film) should be your first priority. Prepare a list so the contents can be tracked. Then, box and seal to prevent drying, refrigerating (at 35¼ - 40¼ F) if possible.

2. Freeze the paper. Puckering, swelling, ink smearing and blocking occurs as long as paper is wet. Inventory these documents, pack in boxes with plastic liners, palletize, and freeze. Once frozen, the damage ceases and the loss is in stasis until restoration can be accomplished.

For critical documents and special collections, blast freezing is best but seldom available in the time frame required. The freezing process is usually accomplished with refrigerated trucks that will transport the documents to the closest freeze dry facility for restoration (see step five below).

If documents are covered with silt (as a result of flooding), they are rinsed and cleaned on site before freezing. Remember that once frozen, documents become blocks of ice; if the unit you wish to consider is less than a box, separate the documents into modules with plastic or wax paper before freezing.

3. Separate vellum and leather bound documents. Vellum and leather are derived from animal skin and should be carefully separated from the rest of the documents. Drying should be done slowly and in a controlled fashion. Unlike other materials, they should not be heated during the freeze dry process.

4. Reprocess the microforms. As implied above, the emulsion layer on film will stick to contiguous substrate if it is allowed to dry, resulting in tearing and loss of data if you subsequently attempt to separate the film. Restoration involves machine reprocessing of wet microfilm and manual processing of fiche and other photographic film. Film may also be frozen for indefinite storage without further damage. For restoration, it must then be thawed and wet processed.

5. Freeze dry frozen paper documents. The next trick is to dry the paper without exposing the documents to the liquid phase. This can be accomplished by forcing sublimation (solid-state to vapor-state drying) in a freeze dry chamber with sufficient vacuum.