After the flames are out, the hardest question begins: which equipment is safe to return to service? The metal remembers every temperature it saw, and the microstructure is where it writes the record down. AT A GLANCE The problem After a fire in a refinery, petrochemical, fertiliser or chemical plant, hundreds of equipment items sit under one question: reuse, repair or replace. Fire damage assessment is the discipline that answers it with evidence. Replace everything and the