1. Soot conducts electricity
Smoke leaves a layer of soot on boards and components. That soot is conductive and corrosive: if you switch the device on, it can cause a short circuit that damages the electronics and the drives.
2. If your device switched itself off
If it switched off during or after the fire, the soot may have caused a short circuit. Do not try to switch it on again to check.
3. Do not switch it on, connect it or clean it
Switching it on or cleaning it yourself, with air, cloths or liquids, can carry the soot further inside and make the damage worse.
4. If it also got wet
If the device was hit by water when the fire was put out, remove the liquid from the surface with paper towel, without rubbing, put it in a closed bag and bring it in immediately. Do not use heat or rice.
5. What we do in the laboratory
First, if necessary, we carry out a cleaning process to remove the soot safely; this process has a cost. Then we recover the information from the affected storage media: drives, SSDs or servers.
What to do now
Do not switch it on, unplug it only if it is safe to do so, put it in a closed bag and bring it to the laboratory as soon as possible. Soot is corrosive and the damage progresses over time.
Were your devices in a fire?
Write to us and we will arrange getting them to the laboratory.