A puff back is usually handled as a covered equipment related event under a homeowners policy, and it is a real cleanup despite involving no open flame. The soot is oily and acidic, it travels the duct system, and it films every room the ducts serve. Two disciplines matter. Do not run the furnace again until it is serviced, because a second misfire doubles the film, and do not wet wipe the walls, because wet methods smear this soot into paint and plaster where dry methods would have lifted it. Photograph the furnace room first, call the claim, and let the cleaning scope include the ducts explicitly.
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