Being Prepared Part 2

3/16/2022 (Permalink)

As I said in an earlier blog, part of being a Commercial Property Manager is being prepared.  Like knowing where the sprinkler riser is located.  But another part is prevention.  Although you can’t always predict trouble, you can take certain precautions.

The building fire that took my ego down a few pegs was investigated by none other than the Fire Chief himself.  (Large commercial structure fire that made the news was a big deal.)  Nice man; very willing to share his knowledge and I learned a lot about fires.  And how to prevent them.

The cause of our fire was a very small desk fan belonging to an employee of a company that leased office space in the building.  (Not unusual, I have one that sits on my desk now.  Summertime in the South.)  But what was unusual was that hers quit running.  When she left for the day, she knew it wasn’t running but just thought she had already turned it off.  But she hadn’t.  It had malfunctioned, was left in the “on” position, and still plugged in.  That miracle we call electricity did the rest.

So talk to your tenants about prevention.  Share this story with them.  Ask them to think about prevention before they turn the lights off and close and lock the door for the night.  Are there any appliances plugged in that shouldn’t be?  Is there any water still running?  One last walk through might be all the prevention you need.  But if not, call SERVPRO, we’re here to help!