Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration, in Line with IICRC S700
Fire and smoke damage restoration is the work that starts once the fire is out and the fire service has released the building: assess how far the residue and the odour have travelled, contain and clean the soot, dry the water the firefighting left behind, and restore what can be restored. Elite carries it out in line with IICRC S700, the fire and smoke damage restoration standard, with the water dried in line with IICRC S500, and the restoration line runs 24/7, with a target of being on site within 2 hours in metro areas.
Before anyone arrives, leave the soot alone. Wiping it drives an oily residue into paint, plaster and fabric. Keep out of the rooms the smoke reached, which is usually more rooms than the fire did.
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What's included
Soot & Smoke Damage Cleaning
Specialised cleaning of soot residue from walls, ceilings, ducts, HVAC, and building contents using HEPA filtration and dry/wet methods as appropriate.
Odour Neutralisation
Thermal fogging, ozone treatment, and hydroxyl generation for persistent smoke odours in structural materials and salvaged contents.
Contents Restoration & Pack-Out
Inventory, pack-out, cleaning, deodorisation, and secure storage of salvageable contents during structural restoration.
“Very good service, great job on upholstery especially. Arrived when he said, charged as quoted. No fuss. Some carpet stains were not budging though but then it’s an old carpet.”
“We had a pipe burst in our ceiling, water seeped into our walls and our unit was at a very high risk for mould :( Guosheng worked tirelessly to ensure the drying process went as smooth as possible, even working until the evening on a Friday to ensure our walls would be dry and safe over the weekend! An extremely proficient and productive company that thrives on providing excellent service and quality work. Thank you so much for all of your help! <3”
Three things, not one. Soot and smoke residue settle on every surface the smoke touched and inside the wall cavities, ceiling spaces and ducts it moved through. Odour is held in soft materials, from carpet and curtains to the insulation above the ceiling. And the water from hoses or sprinklers starts a drying job of its own, which is where mould begins if it is left. The visible damage is the smallest part of the assessment: residue travels with the smoke into rooms the fire never reached, and a dry-looking wall can still hold water from the hoses.
How the job runs
The call. The restoration line is available 24/7, and the job starts once the building has been released.
Assessment and scope. A technician maps the residue, the odour and the moisture room by room, and an initial report and a scope or quote follow within 24 hours, before anything is cleaned or removed.
Containment. The affected area is sealed so soot doesn’t keep moving through the building while it is cleaned.
Water extraction and drying. Standing water from the firefighting is removed and the structure is dried in line with IICRC S500, with the drying monitored until it is done.
Soot and smoke cleaning. Surfaces and contents are cleaned. Charred lining, soaked underlay and anything past recovery comes out, and the scope says so first. Where an older building has asbestos in the way, removal is carried out by in-house qualified technicians rather than subcontracted.
Odour treatment and completion. Odour is treated at its source, in the materials that hold it, and the job closes with a completion report within 24 to 48 hours.
Contents are assessed with the building. What can be cleaned and returned, and what is written off, is recorded so the decision sits in the report rather than in a conversation.
In a customer’s words
Nicole Martin wrote in a Google review after a burst pipe in her unit, the drying side of the same team’s work: “Nothing was too hard and Guosheng had multiple tricks up his sleeve to ensure maximum drying capacity. The communication throughout the whole process was excellent, which made this very stressful situation for me a lot easier to handle.”
The standard, the cover and the claim
Elite is an IICRC Certified Firm, certificate number 70100265, certified in S700 for fire and smoke restoration and S500 for water damage, and a member of the IICRC and the Restoration Industry Association. Its technicians hold IICRC certifications including fire and smoke damage restoration at Master level, and water damage restoration. The technicians are police-checked and fully insured, the business carries $20 million in public and products liability cover and is CM3 certified, and the work is carried out to the relevant Australian Standards. The Elite brand has been operating since 1984, with head office in Acacia Ridge, Brisbane, servicing every Australian state and the ACT. Where the fire is an insured event, the scope and the completion report are written for the claim, and Elite liaises directly with your insurer from the first call to final sign-off.
Questions people ask after a fire
Is fire damage covered by insurance?
That depends on your policy and the cause. The assessment and the completion report document what was found and what was done, which is what an insurer needs, and Elite deals with the insurer directly.
What does fire damage restoration cost?
There is no fixed price on this page. The scope after the assessment sets it, and how far the smoke travelled, the contents and the water are what move it.
Does smoke damage reach rooms the fire didn’t?
Nearly always. Smoke moves through the ceiling space and the ducts, so the assessment covers the whole building, not the burnt room.
