109 West Avenue

Rochester, NY 14611

Phone: (585) 436-7730

Fax: (585) 436-6778

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• Pricing
  • General Price List
  • $2,810 - Traditional Funeral
  • $975 - Direct Cremation
  • Help Paying for a Funeral
• Burial Options
  • What is a Funeral?
  • How to Plan a Burial Service
  • Traditional Funeral Services
  • Frequently Asked Questions
• Cremation Information
  • Why Choose Cremation
  • The Cremation Process
  • Cremation FAQ
  • The History of Cremation
  • Cremation Myths
• Memorial Services
  • Frequently Asked Questions
• A Celebration of Life
• Specialty Funeral Services
  • Veteran Funeral Services
  • Ash Scattering Services
  • Memorialize the Life of Loved Ones

People often have many misconceptions about how cremation actually works. Many people think that cremation is completed by simply using fire to burn the body. However, the cremation process is completed with a lot more care and is much more technical in nature. 

We hear the question 'how does cremation work?' by many families before making their decision. Cremation is the process of reducing a body to ash by exposing it to very high temperatures. First, the family or next of kin must authorize the body to be cremated. The crematorium operator prepares the body and removes any jewelry, medical devices (i.e. pacemakers), prostheses, and implants. The corpse is placed in a container made of wood or heavy cardboard. The container is then placed into the crematory chamber which is essentially a large furnace. The heat ignites the container and the body begins to dry out. The temperature in the chamber can rise to about 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. It typically takes 2 to 3 hours to fully cremate a body. What’s left is a grey coarse material that feels like a fine gravel and on average, 3 to 9 pounds of ash is produced (Kim, 2018). 

 

 

Kim, M. (2018). How cremation works. Retrieved from https://science.howstuffworks.com/cremation1.htm