Fast, Reliable Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Across Citrus
Fire and smoke damage in Citrus hits differently than it does down in the flatland cities. When a Santa Ana wind event pushes embers off the San Gabriel foothills into your neighborhood, smoke works its way into attics, wall cavities, and crawlspaces of mid-century ranch homes in ways that keep coming back if you only clean the surface. Wade Ferris and his crew have been restoring foothill homes since 2007, and we know the 91702 zone well enough to plan for the second phase most companies miss. Call (855) 915-0646 any hour. A live person answers, and Wade will be on the road to Citrus without a trip charge inside the county.
Why Wade’s Restoration of California Is Citrus’s Preferred Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Company
Wade Ferris puts his name on the work. Not a franchise name, not a regional manager. His own name, his own truck, and his own phone number. When you call about smoke damage in Citrus, you talk to Wade. He answers even at two in the morning. That matters in a foothill community where a wind-driven ember can ignite a vented roof assembly in a house built before anyone thought about fire-resistant construction. Customers on San Gabriel Avenue, Barranca Avenue, and throughout the 91702 corridor have called us after national outfits quoted one price over the phone and a different number at the door. We don’t do that. We hand you a written scope before work starts, and every fire, water, and mold job carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If it’s not done right, Wade makes it right.
Wade’s Restoration has 29 years in the restoration trade. The company is IICRC-certified, RIA-affiliated, and a member of IFA. The techs Wade sends to Citrus are background-checked, uniformed, and they use professional equipment from Dri-Eaz and Injectidry. But the thing Citrus homeowners tell us they value most is that Wade deals with the insurance adjuster directly. You’re not stuck relaying messages between your carrier and some call center. Wade documents everything with photos and daily moisture readings, and he hands you the full log when the job is done. Almost nobody else in the trade gives you that kind of transparency.
Our Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Services in Citrus
Emergency Board-Up & Tarping
After a fire, your home in Citrus is open to the weather and to anyone who might wander by. We board up broken windows, tarp damaged roof sections, and seal entry points the same day you call. In the 91702 foothill zone, this step can’t wait. The next Santa Ana wind event can push through an open roof and spread soot into clean rooms, adding to what the insurance claim has to cover. A board-up done right keeps the rest of the house protected while adjusters and inspectors do their work.
Emergency board-up in Citrus typically runs $400 to $900 depending on how many openings need securing and whether roof tarping is required. We bill this directly to insurance whenever possible, and the estimate is free.
Smoke & Soot Removal
Soot from a wildfire or a kitchen fire in a 1950s ranch settles into places most people never look: open rafter bays, subfloor cavities, behind baseboards, inside ductwork. Cleaning walls and ceilings without addressing those hidden pockets is why Citrus homeowners complain that smoke odor comes back weeks after a so-called completed job. Our crew uses HEPA vacuums and dry-ice blasting to pull soot from structural cavities, not just from visible surfaces. We treat the house as a system, not as a living room with stained walls.
Smoke and soot removal across a typical Citrus ranch home runs $2,800 to $6,500 depending on square footage, how deep the soot traveled, and whether the attic and crawlspace need treatment. If you only need a single room cleaned after a kitchen fire, that’s usually under $1,800.
Odor Removal & Deodorization
Older ranch homes in Citrus have original single-pane windows and unsealed exterior sheathing. Smoke odor gets into those gaps and into the fibers of original hardwood and drywall from the 1960s. Painting over it or running an ozone machine for a weekend won’t fix the problem. We use thermal fogging, hydroxyl generators, and targeted sealants to neutralize odor at the source, including in wall cavities and under flooring. We also check the exterior envelope. If smoke got in through unsealed gaps, odor will come back through those same gaps with the next wind event.
Whole-home odor removal and deodorization in Citrus generally runs $1,500 to $4,200. If the fire was relatively small and contained to a single room, expect the lower end. If smoke traveled through the HVAC system and into the attic, expect the higher end.
Contents Cleaning & Pack-Out
Smoke doesn’t just damage drywall. It settles into your furniture, clothing, dishes, books, and photo albums. We offer contents cleaning and pack-out for Citrus homeowners. That means we inventory what’s damaged, pack the items that can be cleaned and restored, and document everything for your insurance claim. Items that can’t be restored get documented too, with photos and written notes that go directly to your adjuster. You don’t have to handle a single piece of paperwork.
Contents cleaning and pack-out in Citrus typically runs $1,200 to $5,000, depending on the volume of items and whether off-site storage is needed. Wade walks you through the scope before anything gets packed, and the 90-Day Done Right Promise covers this work too.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Citrus
We restore homes no matter what brand of equipment, HVAC system, or building materials you have. But in Citrus’s older housing stock, we see a lot of original forced-air units, single-pane window frames, and 1950s-1970s siding that absorbed decades of smoke before this fire ever happened. We work with Dri-Eaz drying equipment and Injectidry drying mats for the water phases of a fire restoration job, because firefighting often leaves as much water damage as fire damage. And we service homes with every major HVAC brand you’ll find in the 91702 zone. If parts need replacing, we can source them quickly through local supply houses we’ve used for years. That keeps your job moving instead of waiting two weeks on a national chain’s warehouse.
Common Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Problems We See in Citrus Homes
- Residual soot in attic rafters that gets re-suspended by Santa Ana winds. Crews not familiar with Citrus treat wildfire smoke as a one-and-done surface cleaning. But in mid-century ranch homes along the foothill corridor, soot works into open rafter bays and settles there. The next wind event off the San Gabriels stirs it up, and your living room smells like smoke again.
- Debris-flow mud intrusion after the first heavy rain. Citrus sits directly downslope from burn-scarred slopes, including areas from the 2020 Bobcat Fire. When winter rains hit those denuded hillsides, ashy mud can push through foundation vents and into crawlspaces that were already smoke-compromised. Companies that skip a standing debris-flow plan get condemned after the first storm. We scope two-phase jobs from the start.
- Smoke odor returning through original single-pane windows and unsealed sheathing. Many Citrus homes built in the 1950s-1970s still have original windows and exterior gaps that no one has ever sealed. Technicians who clean the interior but ignore the exterior envelope see recurring callbacks. We check both sides of every wall.
- Water damage from firefighting that gets overlooked. Fire hoses put hundreds of gallons into a house. That water soaks into wood-framed roofs, subfloors, and the aging crawlspace foundations common in Citrus. If you only treat the burn, the moisture problem shows up months later as mold. We dry the whole structure, not just the burned rooms.
Pricing for Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Citrus, CA
Here’s what Citrus homeowners can expect to pay, based on actual jobs we’ve completed in the 91702 zone. Emergency board-up and tarping: $400-$900. Smoke and soot removal for a typical mid-century ranch: $2,800-$6,500. Odor removal and deodorization: $1,500-$4,200. Contents cleaning and pack-out: $1,200-$5,000. Structural fire repair, which includes framing, drywall, and finish work, runs $6,000 to $40,000 depending on the extent of the burn. Every job starts with a written scope and a free estimate. Call (855) 915-0646 and Wade will walk the property with you before anything gets signed. There’s no trip charge inside Los Angeles County, and a second opinion on any written estimate is always free.
We Also Serve Cities Near Citrus
If you’re in Azusa, Covina, Glendora, or Charter Oak, we handle Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration there too. The foothill fire pattern doesn’t stop at Citrus’s boundary, and neither do we. Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Citrus is our local specialty, but Wade and his crew know every canyon and neighborhood in this corner of the San Gabriel Valley.
Serving Citrus, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Citrus area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Citrus
Because Citrus sits directly below fire-scarred mountain slopes, including burn areas from the Bobcat Fire. When winter rains hit those denuded hillsides, debris flows can send ashy mud through foundation vents and crawlspaces of homes that were already smoke-damaged months earlier. A flatland contractor scopes the fire job and walks away. We scope the fire job, then put a standing order in place to return after the first significant rain. That second phase is a debris-flow mudout, and skipping it is the biggest mistake we see in this area. If you’re dealing with a fire in Citrus, call (855) 915-0646 and ask Wade to walk the property. He’ll tell you honestly whether you need a two-phase plan.
Yes. The Bobcat Fire burned slopes directly above the San Gabriel Mountain canyons that feed runoff into the 91702 zone. Those burn scars have changed how water moves down those slopes. So a wildfire smoke job in Citrus today isn’t just about soot in your attic. It’s about what’s going to come down through your foundation vents after the next heavy rain. We’ve restored homes in the area that took smoke damage in the fire season, then mud damage from the same burn scar six months later. That’s the two-phase cycle we plan for, and it’s why a national company that just flies in a crew for the smoke cleanup often leaves Citrus homeowners holding a much bigger repair bill later.
Because those homes have original single-pane windows, unsealed exterior sheathing, and open rafter bays that let smoke get deep into the structure. In a newer house with well-sealed construction, smoke stays closer to the surface. In a Citrus ranch built in 1962, smoke works into wall cavities, around original window frames, and into subfloor areas that no one has opened since the Eisenhower administration. Surface cleaning and ozone machines don’t reach those places. We use thermal fogging, HEPA vacuuming, and targeted sealants to get at the source. If you’ve had a company clean the walls and the smell came back, that’s the reason. Call (855) 915-0646 and Wade will inspect the cavities properly.
First, shut your HVAC system off. Running the fan pulls airborne soot deeper into the ductwork. Second, don’t open windows, even if the smoke is heavy inside. That lets more superheated, soot-laden air in. Third, if you see embers on the roof or in the yard, hose them down from a safe distance. Don’t go up on the roof, especially on an older wood-framed structure. Then call us. A board-up and tarping crew can be at your Citrus home the same day, and the sooner we seal the envelope, the less soot you’ll have in your living space. If you haven’t yet called your insurer, do that too. Wade will deal with the adjuster directly once we’ve documented the damage.
You improve the exterior envelope before the wind event arrives. Seal gaps around windows and original sheathing. Replace worn weatherstripping. And if your roof has open vents that embers can get through, upgrade them to ember-resistant vent covers. In Citrus’s wind-driven ember environment, the house two blocks from the fire line can take the same smoke and ember damage as the house at the edge. We can’t prevent a wildfire, but we can make your home less likely to soak up smoke that leads to a six-week odor removal job later. Call (855) 915-0646 and Wade will look at the house and tell you what’s worth doing now versus what can wait.
If you’ve had fire or smoke damage in Citrus, or if you’re worried about what the next Santa Ana wind event could push into your home, call (855) 915-0646. Wade answers his own phone. The estimate is free, there’s no trip charge inside the county, and if you already have a written estimate from another company, Wade will give you a free second opinion. That’s the kind of accountability that only comes from a local owner who’s going to see you again at the hardware store.
Written by Wade Ferris, Owner at Wade’s Restoration, serving Citrus since 2007.