Get a hygienist’s smoke test for your claimGet a restoration crew out
Fire and smoke in Denver: the local record
Fire response in Denver is the Denver Fire Department [1]. The Denver Fire Department, founded in 1866, staffs 39 firehouses in the city plus five stations at Denver International Airport with more than 1,000 paid professional firefighters, and also serves Glendale, Sheridan, Englewood and the Skyline Fire District. [1] DFD's 2022 annual report states the department responds from 39 fire stations organized into six districts, with 199 members on duty each day in the districts and another 34 on duty at DEN, whose response area covers about 53 square miles including six runways. [2]
Boulder County's operational after-action report on the December 30, 2021 Marshall Fire says the fire destroyed 1,084 homes and seven commercial structures in Louisville, Superior and unincorporated Boulder County, caused two fatalities, and was estimated at 6,000 acres by December 31. [3] For standing homes in the Marshall Fire area, Boulder County Public Health recommends having HVAC ducts professionally cleaned as soon as possible, replacing filters as soon as they look soiled, using the highest filtration the HVAC maker allows plus an activated-carbon pre-filter for odors, wearing an N95 and gloves around ash or soot, and never using a leaf blower, fan or broom on ash. [4] NWS Boulder issues a Red Flag Warning for the Denver area when frequent wind gusts of 25 mph or greater combine with relative humidity of 15% or less for at least three hours in a 12-hour period over critical fuels, or when dry thunderstorms reach 15% coverage; the office also flags overnight humidity that stays at 40% or lower as a contributing factor. [5]
What those numbers mean for a Denver household is simple: after every one of those events, more buildings stood in the smoke than burned, and the standing buildings are the ones whose owners are told the damage is “just a smell”. It is not; it is residue, and it is measurable.
What a Denver restoration crew does
The form above reaches both trades that a smoke loss in Denver needs. Certified Industrial Hygienists (CIHs) and environmental consultants do the testing — surface and air samples, an accredited laboratory, a report an adjuster has to answer. Fire damage restoration technicians, also called disaster restoration specialists, do the cleaning — chemical sponges and HEPA vacuums for the soot, air scrubbers and thermal fogging for the odor, and extraction and drying for the water the fire department used.
- Denver soot removal — chemical sponges on painted surfaces, HEPA vacuuming of every horizontal surface, wet cleaning of the oily residue a protein or synthetic fire leaves.
- Odor — air scrubbers during the work, thermal fogging or hydroxyl treatment after it, sealing of framing that still off-gasses in a Denver attic.
- Firefighting water — extraction and structural drying with dehumidifiers and air movers, metered until the Denver house is dry.
- HVAC — the system carried the smoke through the Denver house; ducts, plenum and air handler inspected and cleaned to ANSI/IICRC S590.
- Contents — pack-out, inventory, cleaning or documented disposal of what the smoke reached in Denver.
The work standard is ANSI/IICRC S700 [6]; the crew credential to ask for in Denver is the IICRC FSRT [7]. Before the crew cleans, the hygienist samples — a Denver claim that skips that step has no evidence of scope.
Permits, licensing and the Colorado rules that apply in Denver
Denver jobs answer first to the Colorado statewide contractor rules, then to the local permit desk. 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. [8]
Verify any Denver contractor through the state licence lookup [9]; the Colorado page on this site covers the licensing regime in full.
The claim itself is governed by the Colorado Division of Insurance (Department of Regulatory Agencies). The Colorado smoke damage claims guide on our sister site lays out the deadlines and the complaint route; United Policyholders [10] explains why the CIH test is the lever when a Denver adjuster calls the residue dust.
The roof after a Denver fire
Embers, radiant heat and the fire department’s ventilation cuts damage decking, trusses and insulation, and a Denver smoke test does not measure any of that. Ventilation holes and fire department damage [11] explains what the crews cut and why; the National Roofing Directory’s Colorado roofing contractors hub lists licensed roofers, and the picker below opens it. The Colorado restoration page covers the rest of the state.