The Summer We Became Softball People
About 35 employees, partners, and family members spent their Sundays playing for the Wet Sox and Drip City Sluggers in Oregon Restoration’s first softball season.
Every fire loss is different. What burned, how long the residue sat, how much water was used to extinguish the fire, how smoke moved through the building, and what the structure was built from all affect the restoration plan.
While our team evaluates these conditions before they create a scope of work and job plan, most fire damage projects follow a standard sequence. That sequence is there for a reason: dry before detailed cleaning, removal before treating residual odor and so on.
Running those steps out of order creates problems that surface later as permanent staining, persistent smoke odor, concealed moisture damage, or failed inspections. A properly managed fire loss moves deliberately from emergency stabilization through drying, demolition, cleaning, odor treatment, and reconstruction.
Oregon Restoration’s fire damage protocols follow our years of experience with fire losses, established restoration principles and the IICRC standard for professional fire and smoke damage restoration.
Before restoration work can begin, the property has to be safe and secure.
Fire can leave windows broken, doors damaged, roofing exposed, and structural components weakened. Our emergency response includes boarding windows and doors, installing temporary roof tarps, securing openings, establishing safe access areas, and coordinating the shutoff of electrical, gas, or water systems, depending on the scale of the loss.
The initial goal is to keep the loss from getting bigger because of rain, wind, freezing temperatures, unauthorized entry, or damaged building systems.
During the emergency response phase, we evaluate the structure for immediate safety concerns. Areas affected by severe heat, structural movement, falling debris, or damaged electrical components stay restricted until they’ve been inspected and cleared, which on larger losses sometimes means bringing in a structural engineer.
In structures built before 2004, asbestos sampling happens during the initial response or shortly thereafter. Lab results take days, and waiting until demolition is ready to start means the job sits. Sampling early keeps the schedule moving and makes sure no regulated material gets disturbed before it’s been cleared.
Once the property is stabilized, we inspect it to determine the full extent of the loss.
Visible fire damage is only part of it. Smoke travels through doorways, wall cavities, attic spaces, plumbing penetrations, and HVAC systems. Water from hoses or sprinklers migrates beneath flooring, behind walls, and into areas that look untouched from the surface.
The inspection covers moisture mapping and thermal imaging to find suppression water in walls, ceilings, flooring, and subfloors as well as framing, drywall, insulation, and roofing exposed to heat. It includes a room-by-room assessment of smoke and soot contamination and identification of what type of residue is present, since that determines how it gets cleaned. HVAC systems, ductwork, and air pathways, must all be evaluated, and we document damaged finishes, fixtures, appliances, and personal property. In addition, during the inspection, we collect samples for asbestos, lead, or another regulated materials that may be present,.
Photographs, measurements, moisture readings, inventories, and written observations become the technical foundation for the restoration scope. That same documentation supports the insurance claim by showing what was damaged, where contamination traveled, what can be restored, and what has to be replaced.
A well-documented inspection gives you, as the property owner, us as the contractor, and your adjuster a common set of facts to work from in support of the insurance claim.
Fire hoses introduce hundreds or thousands of gallons of water into a structure. In addition, sprinkler systems can run for a long time before the supply is shut off. All of that moisture typically spreads well beyond the burned area.
Standing water is extracted first. Wet carpet pad, insulation, and drywall are evaluated to determine whether they can be dried or need to come out. Dehumidifiers and air movers go in, and moisture levels are monitored through the drying process until affected materials hit their dry standard.
Drying a fire-damaged building takes extra care, because air movement spreads loose soot and contaminated dust. Equipment placement and containment have to account for contamination, not just moisture. In many cases, soot gets HEPA vacuumed or stabilized before aggressive air movement starts.
Handling water damage quickly reduces the risk of mold growth, corrosion, swelling, delamination, and structural deterioration on top of a loss that’s already complicated.
Drying a fire loss follows the same water damage restoration process that we use on a water damage project, including how moisture is tracked and verified through each stage.
Once the property is stable and standing water is out, we evaluate contents.
Smoke and soot residue settles into furniture, clothing, electronics, books, artwork, and cabinets. Any porous items in the affected area will absorb odor, and acidic soot can discolor or corrode certain materials the longer it sits.
On larger losses, contents are packed out so the structure can be cleaned efficiently and the items can be treated in a controlled environment. That starts with a documented inventory. Items are photographed, described, and logged before they leave the property, which creates a record for the owner and supports the contents portion of the claim.
From there, items get sorted into what can be cleaned safely on site, what should be transported for specialized cleaning, what needs evaluation by a specialty vendor, and what isn’t salvageable.
How they are treated depends on the material: hard surfaces are hand-cleaned; textiles may need laundering, dry cleaning, or specialized deodorization; electronics get evaluated for soot intrusion and corrosion; and fragile, sentimental, or high-value items go to specialists.
Contents cleaning runs simultaneously to the the property damage restoration process. Once restored, contents are stored until the building is ready.
After contents are inventoried and packed out, the next step is to remove material that’s structurally destroyed and deeply charred.
Charred material keeps releasing odor and fine particles. It also conceals damage behind walls, ceilings, cabinets, and finishes. Removing what can’t be restored gives us access to concealed areas and lets the remaining structure be evaluated accurately.
That said, fire damage doesn’t always require gutting every affected room. At Oregon Restoration, demolition is selective. We remove what can’t be safely or cost-effectively restored and preserve what’s structurally sound and can be cleaned. Depending on the loss, that means taking out one section of drywall instead of an entire wall, keeping framing that can be cleaned and sealed, or protecting cabinetry and finishes while the material around them comes out.
Selective demolition cuts reconstruction time, material and labor cost, waste, and disruption. It also reduces how many original building components have to be replicated, which matters in older homes where matching original work is difficult and expensive.
Smoke and soot removal is the most technically demanding phase of fire restoration.
There’s no single cleaning method that works on every type of surface. The right procedure depends on what burned, how hot the fire got, how much oxygen was available, what surface is affected, and how long the residue has been sitting. Using the wrong product or technique smears residue, drives it deeper into porous surfaces, creates permanent staining, and ruins finishes that could have been saved.
Loose soot and particulate come off first with HEPA-filtered vacuums, which capture fine particles instead of putting them back into the air. We always begin with a “soft pass” because aggressive contact smears soot and grinds particles into paint, fabric, and drywall.
Also called soot sponges, dry chemical sponges pull dry soot off walls, ceilings, lampshades, books, and other surfaces that won’t tolerate wet cleaning yet. They’re made from vulcanized rubber, and they lift dry particulate by attraction. Our technicians work in controlled, overlapping passes until the soot is removed.
Chemical sponges remove soot without adding moisture, which is what you want on unsealed drywall, flat paint, acoustic ceiling material, paper, and certain fabrics where water causes staining or swelling.
Once loose soot is off, washable surfaces get cleaned with detergents or alkaline agents chosen for the residue and the material. This works on durable, nonporous, or semi-porous surfaces: finished woodwork, tile, metal, glass, sealed cabinetry, some painted surfaces.
When plastics, rubber, oils, and synthetic materials burn they leave a sticky residue that smears under ordinary wet cleaning. Solvents dissolve or suspend that contamination so it can be removed instead of spread. However, we use solvents selectively because it can affect paint, adhesives, and wood finishes.
Kitchen and cooking fires are the most common fire damage losses we see, and they typically produce a lot of protein residue. It’s hard to see, but it carries a strong, persistent odor and leaves a thin greasy film on walls, cabinets, ceilings, and nearby contents. It takes cleaning agents built to break down organic contamination. Wiping the surface or spraying deodorizer doesn’t touch the source.
Exposed framing, subfloors, sheathing, and masonry may need HEPA vacuuming, dry cleaning, detergent cleaning, agitation, or abrasive cleaning, depending on how deep the charring goes and how porous the material is. Wire brushing or media blasting removes embedded residue from unfinished structural surfaces. Abrasive cleaning isn’t right for every material we never use it to make framing look like new. The goal is removing contamination without weakening the building.
Smoke gets into return-air pathways, ductwork, wall cavities, and attics. It is critical that the HVAC system stays off until it’s been inspected, since running a contaminated system redistributes smoke particles through the whole property. HVAC treatment can mean cleaning registers and returns, replacing filters, cleaning accessible ductwork, or bringing in specialized HVAC cleaning.
Cleaning visible walls while leaving contaminated cavities and mechanical systems untreated is the most common reason smoke odor comes back after a property has been called complete.
Our Guide to Fire & Smoke Damage covers how smoke travels through a structure and why the damage often reaches further than it looks.
After the bulk soot is off, remaining surfaces are cleaned in sequence.
We work from ceilings and upper walls downward so falling particles don’t recontaminate finished areas. This includes walls and ceilings, trim, doors, cabinets, built-ins, windows, glass, fixtures, hardware, flooring and subflooring, salvageable framing, and the concealed areas that got exposed during demolition. Horizontal surfaces get contaminated dust removed, and anywhere residue remains gets another pass.
Some surfaces take more than one method. A wall might be HEPA vacuumed, treated with a dry chemical sponge, and then wet-cleaned before it’s ready to seal or repaint.
Smoke odor comes from contamination, so odor control starts with physical removal.
Deodorizers, fogging agents, and ozone can’t make up for charred material, soot, or contaminated dust still in the building. Odor treatment only works after the damaged material is out and the surfaces are clean.
Scrubbers filter fine airborne particles during demolition and cleaning. They run continuously inside contained work areas or create negative air pressure to keep contaminated air from moving into clean space.
Hydroxyl generators create reactive molecules that break down odor compounds in the air and on exposed materials. They can often run in occupied spaces, though placement and exposure time still matter. Hydroxyls supplements cleaning; it doesn’t replace it.
Thermal fogging produces a fine deodorizing mist that penetrates porous materials and reaches some of the places smoke traveled during the fire. Because the fog moves through a structure the way smoke did, it’s useful for widespread odor once the source contamination is gone.
Ozone oxidizes odor compounds, but it’s a respiratory irritant and only gets used under controlled conditions. People, pets, and plants have to be out, and the property stays unoccupied through treatment and the clearance period after, making it a bad fit for occupied buildings, partial losses, or anything that can’t be fully isolated.
After cleaning, some porous structural material holds onto staining or residual odor. We may apply a restoration coating or encapsulant to cleaned structural surfaces like framing. These sealants go on after the contamination is removed because painting or sealing over uncleaned soot traps the problem instead of solving it.
Odor treatment is done when the source is gone, the surfaces are clean, and the property doesn’t carry a perceptible smoke odor under normal conditions. Your home isn’t considered restored until it’s completely odor-free.
Before reconstruction can start, the mitigation work gets reviewed to confirm the structure is clean, dry, and ready to rebuild. That review covers final moisture readings, visual inspection of cleaned surfaces, testing for transferable soot residue, evaluation of remaining odor, confirmation that demolition is complete, review of framing and structural repairs, clearance documentation where regulated materials were involved, and coordination of any municipal or third-party inspections.
This checkpoint matters because once drywall, insulation, flooring, and cabinets are in, getting back to the underlying structure is disruptive and expensive.
Once the remaining structure is clean, dry, and odorless, the property is ready to move forward with reconstruction .
Depending on the extent of the fire, that scope can include framing, insulation, drywall, painting, flooring, cabinetry, roofing, electrical, plumbing, and replacement of damaged fixtures and finishes.
At Oregon Restoration, mitigation and reconstruction are managed under one roof. Our reconstruction team evaluates the project while emergency work, drying, and cleaning are still going on, so the rebuild scope develops alongside the restoration instead of starting after mitigation ends.
That continuity is removes the usual handoff problems: incomplete information about what happened during the loss, disagreement over what was removed and why, delays while a new contractor learns the project, gaps between scopes, and confusion over insurance documentation and change orders.
Our Guide to Reconstruction covers how a rebuild gets scoped, permitted, and completed after a loss.
Every fire loss raises practical questions about timing, insurance, cleaning, belongings, odor, and reconstruction. These FAQs explain what homeowners can generally expect and why certain steps matter.
The timeline depends on the size of the loss, the extent of the smoke and water damage, and how much of the structure must be rebuilt, but homeowners should understand that fire damage projects are some of the most time-consuming types of restoration projects.
A contained kitchen fire with minor smoke damage may take a few weeks to clean and restore. A larger fire involving structural demolition, extensive contents cleaning, and reconstruction can take several months.
Emergency stabilization, water removal, demolition, and cleaning are generally the faster parts of the project. Reconstruction often takes longer because the schedule depends on engineering, permitting, inspections, material availability, specialty trades, and insurance approval.
After the initial inspection, we can explain the expected phases of the project and the factors most likely to affect the timeline.
Fire and smoke damage are covered under most standard homeowners insurance policies. Depending on the policy and the circumstances of the loss, coverage may include repairs to the structure, restoration or replacement of personal property, debris removal, and additional living expenses when the home cannot be occupied.
The amount the insurer pays depends on the cause of the fire, policy limits, deductibles, exclusions, and how the loss is documented.
Oregon Restoration works with insurance adjusters and provides line-itemed estimates, inventories, and other documentation needed to evaluate the claim. However, the insurance carrier determines what is covered under the policy. If costs exceed the carrier’s approved budget, you can explore our financing options.
Smoke odor can almost always be removed when the source is identified and properly treated.
The process begins by removing burned materials and physically cleaning soot and smoke residue. Contamination may also need to be addressed inside wall cavities, insulation, attics, ductwork, and other concealed areas.
Air scrubbers, hydroxyl generators, thermal fogging, ozone, and restoration sealants may be used when appropriate, but these treatments do not replace cleaning. When smoke odor returns after a project, it can indicate that contaminated material or residue remains somewhere in the structure.
A property that still smells like smoke has not been fully restored.
Fire suppression systems and firefighting efforts use a large volume of water in a short period of time, often far more than homeowners expect.
That water can spread well beyond the area directly affected by flames, moving beneath flooring, behind walls, through ceilings, and into insulation or subflooring. In some fire losses, the water damage affects a larger portion of the building than the fire itself.
That is why the fire damage restoration process usually includes moisture mapping, water extraction, structural drying, and ongoing moisture monitoring. Addressing the water quickly helps prevent mold growth, swelling, corrosion, and further deterioration of building materials.
Never re-enter your property until the fire department or another appropriate authority has confirmed that it is safe.
Once entry is permitted, it is still best to avoid cleaning soot with household products or wet rags. Soot can smear easily, and adding moisture may drive residue deeper into paint, drywall, fabric, wood, and other porous materials. An incorrect cleaning method can turn a restorable surface into one that must be sealed, repainted, or replaced.
Fire residue may also contain fine particles and combustion byproducts from plastics, electronics, treated wood, and other synthetic materials. Appropriate personal protective equipment and cleaning controls may be necessary.
If you need to retrieve medication, identification, documents, or another essential item, ask a member of our restoration team which areas are safe to enter and what precautions to take, or we’d be happy to retrieve it for you.
Contents cleaning depends on the extent of the fire and the type of items affected.
Some belongings can be cleaned inside the property. On larger losses, contents may be packed out so the structure can be restored while personal property is cleaned in a controlled environment.
Before anything leaves the property, items are photographed, described, and entered into an inventory. They are then separated into categories:
Furniture, clothing, electronics, documents, artwork, and other materials may each require a different cleaning process. We explain when an item is unlikely to be successfully restored rather than repeatedly cleaning it and creating unnecessary cost.
Restored contents are stored until the property is ready for them to return.
Not when Oregon Restoration manages the project.
Our emergency restoration and reconstruction teams operate within the same company. The reconstruction team can begin evaluating the property while demolition, drying, and smoke cleaning are still underway.
That continuity reduces the risk of information being lost between contractors. The reconstruction team knows what was removed, why it was removed, what remains, and what will be required to restore the property.
It also creates a more coordinated transition from emergency response and mitigation into permitting, repairs, and final reconstruction.
Chemical sponges, also called dry cleaning sponges or soot sponges, are used to lift loose, dry soot from surfaces without adding water.
Despite the name, they do not contain a liquid chemical cleaner. They are made from vulcanized rubber that attracts and collects soot as the sponge passes across the surface.
We use them most often on walls, ceilings, books, unsealed drywall, and other materials where wet cleaning could smear the residue or damage the surface.
Chemical sponges are only one of the cleaning methods we use. Depending on what burned and the type of residue present, our technicians also use HEPA vacuuming, detergent cleaning, solvents, enzymatic cleaners, or controlled abrasive methods like sand-blasting.
Paint and restoration sealants can help during the final stages of restoration, but they should not be applied over uncleaned soot.
Soot may interfere with paint adhesion, bleed through the new finish, and continue producing odor. Painting too early can also conceal contamination without removing it.
We may apply a restoration coating or encapsulant when appropriate, particularly on structural materials where staining or residual odor remains after cleaning.
Sealing is a finishing step, not a substitute for soot removal.
The ANSI/IICRC S700 is the industry standard for professional fire and smoke damage restoration, published by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC).
It establishes principles, procedures, and terminology for evaluating fire and smoke damage, determining the boundaries and intensity of contamination, developing a restoration plan, and selecting appropriate cleaning methods.
Following S700 helps us train our technicians to make documented, technically grounded decisions rather than relying on a single cleaning method for every loss.
These resources provide a broader overview of fire damage, explain what to do during the initial emergency, and offer more detail about insurance, restoration standards, and reconstruction.
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About 35 employees, partners, and family members spent their Sundays playing for the Wet Sox and Drip City Sluggers in Oregon Restoration’s first softball season.
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