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Fire and smoke losses in California: the record
The California fire record, as the state agency keeps it, is where the claim volume comes from. CAL FIRE's 2020 archive records 8,648 wildfires, 4,304,379 acres burned, 33 fatalities and 11,116 structures destroyed, the largest season in California's modern record; the August Complex alone burned 1,032,648 acres across seven counties and was called the first "gigafire." [1] CAL FIRE's 2024 archive counts 8,110 wildfires, 1,077,711 acres burned, 1,837 structures destroyed and one civilian death; the Park Fire, ignited July 24, 2024 in Chico's Bidwell Park, burned 429,603 acres in Butte and Tehama counties and destroyed 709 structures. [2] NIFC's September 2026 outlook notes northern California typically sees eight significant fires in September, four in October, one in November and less than one in December, with above-normal potential across the northeastern part of the state in September and offshore wind events the key wildcard west of the Cascade–Sierra crest. [3]
The Camp Fire started November 8, 2018 near Pulga in Butte County, burned 153,336 acres, destroyed 18,804 structures and damaged 754 more, and killed 85 civilians; CAL FIRE attributes the cause to power lines. [4] USFA's 2023 NFIRS profile for California shows 3.5 deaths and 14.5 injuries per 1,000 residential structure fires, below the national averages of 5.8 deaths and 19.7 injuries, based on data reported by 562 California fire departments. [5] Every one of those incidents left standing buildings full of smoke, and it is the standing buildings — not the ones that burned — that generate the disputed claims and the under-scoped cleanups this page is written for.
Who does what in a California smoke loss
Two different trades answer a smoke loss in California, and the form on this page reaches both. The people who test are Certified Industrial Hygienists (CIHs) or environmental consultants: they sample the surfaces and the air, send the samples to an accredited laboratory and write the report an insurer accepts. The people who clean are fire damage restoration technicians, sometimes called disaster restoration specialists: soot removal with chemical sponges and HEPA vacuums, odor control with air scrubbers and thermal fogging, and drying out the water the fire department left behind.
Order matters more than most California homeowners are told: the hygienist samples first, while the residue is undisturbed; the crew cleans second, to the protocol; the hygienist samples again for clearance. Reverse it and the evidence for the claim is in a dumpster.
What the restoration crew actually does in California
- Soot removal in California homes — dry chemical sponges on walls and ceilings, HEPA vacuuming of every horizontal surface, wet cleaning where the residue is oily.
- Odor control — air scrubbers running through the work, thermal fogging or ozone/hydroxyl treatment sealed and ventilated, sealing of California framing that still off-gasses.
- Water — extraction and structural drying of what the fire department left in the California house, monitored with moisture meters until the framing is dry.
- HVAC — the system carried the smoke through the California home; ducts, plenums and the air handler are inspected and cleaned to ANSI/IICRC S590.
- Contents — pack-out, inventory, cleaning or documented disposal of what the smoke reached in the California home.
The standard the crew should be working to is ANSI/IICRC S700 [6], and the technician credential to ask for is the IICRC Fire and Smoke Restoration Technician [7]. Ask a California crew for both before anyone starts wiping.
Licensing and registration for restoration work in California
What a California restoration contractor must hold depends on the trade and the size of the job, and it is worth checking before the first invoice. CSLB requires a current contractor license for any job that needs a building permit, uses employee labor, or is valued at $1,000 or more for combined labor and materials. [8] AB 2622 raised California's unlicensed-work threshold from $500 to $1,000 effective January 1, 2025, but only when no workers are hired and no permit is needed; CSLB warns down payments should not exceed 10 percent and that unlicensed contracting carries administrative fines up to $15,000 and up to six months in jail. [9] Cal/OSHA requires contractors removing 100 square feet or more of material with more than 0.1 percent asbestos to register under Labor Code 6501.5–6510, and anyone sampling or overseeing asbestos projects of 100 square feet or more must be a Certified Asbestos Consultant or Site Surveillance Technician under 8 CCR 341.15. [10]
Verify a California contractor at Contractors State License Board [11] before signing anything; a crew that cannot be found there should not be in your house.
The California claim: what the regulator says
Smoke and fire losses in California are regulated by the California Department of Insurance (CDI). CDI's Residential Series Guides page collects nine consumer guides for homeowners and renters, including the Residential Property Claims Guide, a home inventory guide, disaster-scam prevention and earthquake claims mediation, alongside the residential insurer contact list and homeowners complaint-data studies. [12] Under California's Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations (10 CCR 2695.5 and 2695.7), an insurer must acknowledge a claim within 15 calendar days, accept or deny it in writing within 40 calendar days of receiving proof of claim, send a written status notice every 30 days if it needs more time, and pay within 30 days of accepting a claim. [13]
A carrier that says the smell is “just odor” or the residue is “ordinary dust” is making a factual claim, and a factual claim is answered with a laboratory report, not an argument. United Policyholders [14] lays out why a CIH’s independent testing is the lever in a disputed smoke claim; CIH-led fire and smoke assessments [15] describe what such an assessment covers. The California claim guide on our sister site goes through the paperwork step by step.
California metros with their own pages
Where search demand justified it, the California metros have their own restoration pages with the county and fire-department facts that matter locally: Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose. Every other California address is served from this page.
The roof after a California fire
Heat, embers and the fire department’s ventilation cuts damage decking, trusses and insulation in ways a smoke test does not measure. Ventilation holes and fire department damage [16] explains what the crew cut and why it matters to the roof and the attic, where residue persists longest. For the roofer, the National Roofing Directory’s California roofing contractors listing is the state hub; the picker below opens it.