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Fire and smoke losses in Colorado: the record
The Colorado fire record, as the state agency keeps it, is where the claim volume comes from. DFPC's list of Colorado's largest fires by acreage (as of 12/31/25) ranks Cameron Peak (208,913 acres, 2020) first, East Troublesome (193,812, 2020) second, Pine Gulch (139,007, 2020) third, Hayman (137,760, 2002) fourth and the Lee Fire (137,758, 2025) fifth. [1] DFPC ranks Colorado's most destructive fires by homes lost as Marshall (1,084 homes, 2021), Black Forest (489, 2013), East Troublesome (366, 2020), Waldo Canyon (346, 2012) and High Park (259, 2012). [1] DFPC says wildfire 'seasons' were historically a four-month summer event, but the average core wildfire season is now 78 days longer than in the 1970s and Colorado sees large fires every month of the year. [2]
Boulder County's January 6, 2022 damage assessment for the Marshall Fire counted 1,084 residential structures destroyed and 149 damaged (550 destroyed in Louisville, 378 in Superior, 156 in unincorporated county) plus 7 commercial structures destroyed and 30 damaged, with residential losses valued at about $513.2 million. [3] USFA's Colorado profile shows 1.2 deaths and 7.3 injuries per 1,000 fires in 2023 (national average 2.1 and 6.4), and 4.1 deaths and 26.2 injuries per 1,000 residential structure fires (national 5.8 and 19.7); 256 Colorado fire departments reported NFIRS data that year. [4] 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 Colorado smoke loss
Two different trades answer a smoke loss in Colorado, 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 Colorado 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 Colorado
- Soot removal in Colorado 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 Colorado framing that still off-gasses.
- Water — extraction and structural drying of what the fire department left in the Colorado house, monitored with moisture meters until the framing is dry.
- HVAC — the system carried the smoke through the Colorado 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 Colorado home.
The standard the crew should be working to is ANSI/IICRC S700 [5], and the technician credential to ask for is the IICRC Fire and Smoke Restoration Technician [6]. Ask a Colorado crew for both before anyone starts wiping.
Licensing and registration for restoration work in Colorado
What a Colorado restoration contractor must hold depends on the trade and the size of the job, and it is worth checking before the first invoice. DORA's home-repair consumer page warns that not all occupations are licensed in Colorado, naming roofers and general contractors, and tells homeowners to check with their city or county for local consumer-protection rules before hiring an unlicensed professional. [7] Under Colorado Air Quality Control Commission Regulation 8, Part B, a single-family home renovation or demolition that disturbs more than 50 linear feet of pipe insulation, 32 square feet of other surfaces, or a 55-gallon drum's volume of suspect material requires inspection by a Colorado-certified Asbestos Building Inspector first; the public and commercial building thresholds are 260 linear feet and 160 square feet. [8]
Verify a Colorado contractor at the state licence lookup [9] before signing anything; a crew that cannot be found there should not be in your house.
The Colorado claim: what the regulator says
Smoke and fire losses in Colorado are regulated by the Colorado Division of Insurance (Department of Regulatory Agencies) (DORA DOI). The Division's homeowners insurance page hosts a Toolkit for Homeowners and HOAs, a buyer's guide and a premium comparison, and notes that every insurer writing homeowners, renters, condominium or dwelling-fire policies must provide a required summary of coverage under C.R.S. 10-4-111 and Bulletin B-5.15 explaining major coverages, exclusions and the factors behind cancellation, nonrenewal and premium increases. [10] C.R.S. 10-3-1115 bars an insurer from unreasonably delaying or denying payment of a first-party claim, and C.R.S. 10-3-1116 lets a claimant whose benefits were unreasonably delayed or denied sue in district court for reasonable attorney fees, court costs and two times the covered benefit; delay or denial is unreasonable if made without a reasonable basis. [11]
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 [12] lays out why a CIH’s independent testing is the lever in a disputed smoke claim; CIH-led fire and smoke assessments [13] describe what such an assessment covers. The Colorado claim guide on our sister site goes through the paperwork step by step.
Colorado metros with their own pages
Where search demand justified it, the Colorado metros have their own restoration pages with the county and fire-department facts that matter locally: Colorado Springs, Denver. Every other Colorado address is served from this page.
The roof after a Colorado 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 [14] 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 Colorado roofing contractors listing is the state hub; the picker below opens it.