There are many toxins and sharp items in burned houses, so be sure to wear protective clothing. Long sleeves and pants are a minimum, and you may prefer the full protection of a full body suit, like Tyvek. Also wear heavy boots and gloves that go as high up your legs and arms as possible. Wear a high quality mask and protective glasses. Sometimes you can get gear assistance from the Red Cross.
Google “metal ash sifter” to find sifters. Consider getting a couple of different sieve sizes.
There is so much metal, that in most cases, metal detectors aren’t very helpful.
Find the areas where you kept your jewelry, like dresser drawers, jewelry boxes, or safe deposit boxes.
If your home was multistory and built on a moderate or steep slope, it can be difficult or impossible to recover items. Conversely, a one story house on a flat pad will allow for the easiest pinpointing of your jewelry.
If you had a two story home and the jewelry was located:
The photo shows an example of how a ring might look in the ashes.
Fires burn at different temperatures, and fire temperatures vary within your house. Since heat rises, the fire’s temperature can be significantly higher on the second floor compared to the ground floor, so the condition of your jewelry may depend on where it was stored.
Walls conduct heat, so while it can be very hot by a wall, we’ve seen jewelry saved from excessive heat when a wall collapses over the area where jewelry was found.
Fireproof safes have varying levels of success. Some do an excellent job of protecting jewelry, while in others, the jewelry and the safe’s plastic interior melts into one indistinguishable pile. Many safes are unopenable after a fire and must be cut open. You can DIY by googling or hire someone.
Jewelry melting temperatures:
*Gold melting temperature depends upon the karat, the alloy, and the color of the gold.
Since most jewelry recovered from a fire can be restored if it’s not melted, you’ll have the most success with platinum and larger, thicker gold and silver pieces.
Most jewelry can be restored, as long as it’s not melted, although pearls, watches, and thin or small jewelry rarely survive house fires.
Jewelry that is larger, like rings and thicker bracelets, are easier to find and slower to melt due to their size. Items like stud earrings and small chains and pendants can be much more difficult to find.
While much jewelry survives a house fire, the gemstones are often permanently affected. Depending on the gemstone and the heat level, a gemstone's outcome will range from no damage, to a changed color, to unusable (cracked or burned).
Other gemstones, especially rubies and sapphires, are often fine, although in some cases the color will have changed.
Gemstones that are more rare (costly) and more heat sensitive include opals, emeralds, aquamarine, and tourmaline. There are many other less rare gemstones that are also heat sensitive, for example amethyst, turquoise and coral. While the jewelry may survive the fire, a smaller percentage of these gemstones survive, and if they do, their color is often changed.
Nearly all burnt diamond jewelry can be restored, as long as it’s not melted.
Diamonds are secured in jewelry with prongs. Due to the small size of prongs, they often melt before the host piece. A diamond may still be in the setting, but it may not be secure. Or, the diamond may already have fallen out. Once you find your jewelry, note if it is missing a larger diamond before scooping it up. If it is, plan to search the immediate area with care. If it isn’t, still scoop carefully, as the diamond may fall out once the ring is touched.
Diamonds sparkle and many loose ones are found! It can be helpful to look for loose diamonds at an angle instead of straight down, scanning for glints. Sometimes lowering yourself down, like bending or crouching, can give you a better scanning angle.
Diamonds are very resilient to heat and in the vast majority of cases, are undamaged. In some cases though they get burnt, giving them a chalky, frosted look. The burned area is on the surface only and can be polished off with nearly no loss in carat weight!
We’re specialists in restoring burnt jewelry. Not only have we fixed hundreds of pieces from our local fires, but we repair burned jewelry for clients nationwide. All work is done on premises, and your jewelry is photographed, described, and insured at take in. Please contact us so we can help you recover your jewelry!
