Get a hygienist’s smoke test for your claimGet a restoration crew out
Fire and smoke in San Jose: the local record
Fire response in San Jose is the San José Fire Department [1]. The San José Fire Department's sworn staffing annual report for 2020-2021 (dated October 6, 2021) states the Department responded to 94,784 incidents in Fiscal Year 2020-2021, 3.48% more than the prior year, with staffed resources deployed from 33 fire stations: 5 Battalion Chiefs, 32 Engine Companies, 9 Truck Companies, 1 Urban Search and Rescue Company, 3 Rescue-Medic Units, 1 Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting Company and 1 Paramedic Coordinator; the 2021-2022 Adopted Operating Budget authorized 719 sworn positions, including 14 new positions for Fire Station 37, against a peak of 758 in FY 2007-2008. [2]
Cal OES's statewide wildfire recovery site records that in mid-August 2020 the SCU Lightning Complex in Santa Clara and neighboring counties moved into third all-time among California's largest wildfires (the LNU Lightning Complex fourth), that a federal Fire Management Assistance Grant was secured for the CZU August Lightning Complex on Aug. 20 and for the SCU Lightning Complex on Aug. 21, that a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration was approved Aug. 22, and that the 2020 season set a state record of more than 2.5 million acres burned by early September. [3] NWS Bay Area explains that the region's peak fire weather season is late summer into early fall, when offshore flow (wind from land to ocean) coincides with the tail end of the dry season; when that flow becomes strong and pours over the coastal mountains it is known locally as the Diablo Wind. October 2019 brought four Red Flag Warnings, three within a ten-day stretch and one lasting 36 hours, with prolonged single-digit humidity even at the coast, a 103 mph gust near the Kincade Fire on October 27, and gusts of 52 mph at Rose Peak and 43 mph at Calaveras Road in the Diablo Range. [4]
What those numbers mean for a San Jose 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 San Jose restoration crew does
The form above reaches both trades that a smoke loss in San Jose 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.
- San Jose 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 San Jose attic.
- Firefighting water — extraction and structural drying with dehumidifiers and air movers, metered until the San Jose house is dry.
- HVAC — the system carried the smoke through the San Jose 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 San Jose.
The work standard is ANSI/IICRC S700 [5]; the crew credential to ask for in San Jose is the IICRC FSRT [6]. Before the crew cleans, the hygienist samples — a San Jose claim that skips that step has no evidence of scope.
Permits, licensing and the California rules that apply in San Jose
San Jose jobs answer first to the California statewide contractor rules, then to the local permit desk. 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. [7]
Verify any San Jose contractor through Contractors State License Board [8]; the California page on this site covers the licensing regime in full.
The claim itself is governed by the California Department of Insurance. The California smoke damage claims guide on our sister site lays out the deadlines and the complaint route; United Policyholders [9] explains why the CIH test is the lever when a San Jose adjuster calls the residue dust.
The roof after a San Jose fire
Embers, radiant heat and the fire department’s ventilation cuts damage decking, trusses and insulation, and a San Jose smoke test does not measure any of that. Ventilation holes and fire department damage [10] explains what the crews cut and why; the National Roofing Directory’s California roofing contractors hub lists licensed roofers, and the picker below opens it. The California restoration page covers the rest of the state.