We’ve been providing fire damage restoration for homes and businesses across Colorado’s Front Range since 2005. Our IICRC-certified team handles emergency board-up, smoke and soot cleanup, structural drying, demolition, and full reconstruction, all under one roof.
Call us, we’ll walk through your options:
Fire damage restoration starts with understanding what actually happened to your home. Maybe it was a kitchen fire. Maybe it was electrical. Maybe it was worse. Whatever happened, the fire is out now and you’re standing in a house that smells like smoke, with damage you can see and damage you’re not sure about yet.
Even a contained fire can leave damage that goes well beyond the visible burn. Here’s what most homeowners don’t realize until a professional assessment.
Heat alone can compromise the integrity of structural materials, including framing, drywall, flooring, and even concrete, beyond what is visibly charred.
A fire doesn’t have to reach a room to damage it. Depending on severity, portions of the structure that look intact may still need to be removed and rebuilt because the heat weakened them.
Smoke enters wall and ceiling cavities, often through openings created by the fire or fire department response, and can travel the entire length of a structure into rooms that look untouched.
It’s important to test surfaces throughout structure, even those that appear clean, because smoke contamination isn’t always visible.
Different fires produce different residue: a kitchen grease fire leaves different contamination than a structure fire burning through synthetic materials, which is different again from a wood-burning fire. Each type can require different cleaning approaches.
The fire department will often saturate a structure to put the fire out, which means restoration frequently includes a full water damage restoration running alongside the smoke cleanup. Dehumidifiers, air movers, and moisture monitoring are standard on most fire jobs.
When fire or fire department response compromises windows, doors, walls, or roof sections, the structure needs to be secured right away. Board-up helps prevent weather exposure, vandalism, theft, animal entry, and further deterioration while the restoration plan takes shape.
Forefront Building + Restoration responds 24/7 for emergency board-up across the Front Range, including Colorado Springs, Denver metro, and Northern Colorado.
When insurance is involved, depending on the specifics of the event, your carrier might require a cause and origin investigation before restoration work can begin. This is when a Fire Investigator determines where the fire started and what likely caused it. Until that investigation is complete and liability is assigned, our access and scope of work can be limited.
This gap between the fire and the start of restoration can feel like nothing is happening. It’s not neglect. It’s a required step in the insurance process.
What can be done during the investigation varies from situation to situation. We’ll work with the investigator to keep things moving. During this period, emergency board-up and stabilization (which can include setting drying equipment, temporary power, and heat) are often approved to prevent further damage.
We can walk you through what to expect from the timeline so you’re not guessing, and we stay in contact with insurance and the fire inspector to keep things moving.
Every fire is different and they come in a variety of sizes, but the general process follows the same structure. Here’s what it looks like from start to finish.
Smoke damages more than the structure. It gets into clothing, furniture, electronics, and irreplaceable personal items.
Content cleaning (the process of cleaning, deodorizing, and restoring personal belongings) requires specialty equipment, facilities, and expertise that we don’t maintain in-house. We have direct relationships with content cleaning specialists and coordinate between the cleaning company, insurance, and you to keep the process moving without adding to your workload.
Does insurance cover fire damage restoration?
Most homeowner policies cover fire, smoke, and soot damage. Standard coverage includes structural repairs, content cleaning, and additional living expenses (ALE) while your home is being restored. If the fire has displaced you, ALE is what can cover temporary housing, meals, and other costs while the work is underway. Check your policy or ask your agent about the specifics of your ALE coverage.
We work with all carriers to make the insurance process as straightforward as possible. Here’s what we’ve learned from two decades of working alongside adjusters:
We have years of experience working with insurance and adjusters. We understand the claims process from the inside. That perspective helps us gather the right information, submit clean documentation, and keep the process moving without surprises.
Some restoration companies hand you off to a separate contractor for the rebuild. That handoff can create gaps and administrative headaches: different crews, different timelines, details lost in translation.
We handle the full scope, from the emergency board-up to the final coat of paint. The team that walked the damage with you and your adjuster is the same team that finishes the rebuild. No handoff, no re-explaining your situation, no wondering who’s responsible for what.
If another contractor started the demo or cleaning and you need help with the reconstruction, we can step in. We’ve taken the handoff for restoration projects at various stages in the process. We can handle the transition, including insurance coordination, without adding complexity for you.
This is the difference between a company that does mitigation and a company that does restoration. We do both, and we’ve been doing both across the Front Range for over 20 years.
If you’ve never called a restoration company before, here’s what the first conversation looks like:
Fire damage can be confusing and overwhelming, so we’ve answered the most common questions homeowners & property managers ask. This section helps you understand what to expect and how our team supports you from start to finish.
We can get started as soon as the fire department clears the scene and it’s safe. Emergency board-up can happen immediately to protect the structure. Full restoration work may need to wait for the cause and origin investigation, but we can start planning and coordinating with your insurance right away.
We don’t necessarily recommend it. Soot and smoke can be a health hazard. Additionally, soot is acidic and can cause permanent staining if wiped with the wrong materials or methods. Smoke also travels into wall cavities, HVAC systems, and behind surfaces where it isn’t visible. Depending on the severity, professional equipment, including chem sponges, air filtration, HEPA vacuums, thermal foggers, and hydroxyl generators, may be required to fully address it.
Most homeowner policies cover fire, smoke, and soot damage. Coverage typically includes structural repairs, content cleaning, and additional living expenses (ALE) while you’re displaced. We capture the full scope in Xactimate so we can coordinate directly with your adjuster. More about insurance →
It depends on the severity and insurance’s involvement. A contained kitchen fire with minimal smoke damage might only take a day or two. A structure fire requiring demolition, cause and origin investigation, and full reconstruction can take several months. We can give you a realistic timeline after the initial assessment or a phone call.
Some restoration companies listen to scanners and send people to knock on doors after, or even during, a fire. We don’t do this. We get our fire work through relationships with insurance agents, adjusters, and past customers. We only show up when invited to help.
Fire suppression water is one of the most common surprises after a fire. Hoses saturate a structure, and that water needs to be extracted and dried using the same process as any water damage restoration. We run drying equipment (dehumidifiers, air movers) alongside the smoke and fire damage cleanup. More about water damage restoration →
That is always the goal. We use a combination of encapsulation, thermal fogging, hydroxyl treatment, demolition, and surface cleaning to address smoke odor at the source. Different smoke types (protein, synthetic, wood) require different approaches. We test surfaces throughout the process to confirm the residue and odor are resolved.
We manage as much of the insurance coordination as we can on your behalf. While there are portions only you can handle, we take on the documentation, adjuster communication, Xactimate scoping, and supplement filing. We know that the easier we make things for your carrier, the better your carrier can take care of you.
No. Not every fire requires an insurance claim, and sometimes it makes more sense to handle it out of pocket, especially for smaller incidents where the damage is close to or below your deductible. We can assess the scope and give you a realistic estimate so you can make that decision with clear information. If you do go through insurance, we handle the coordination. If you don’t, we work directly with you on scope and pricing.
That’s normal after a fire. The situation is overwhelming, the insurance process is unfamiliar, and you’re probably fielding calls from people you’ve never heard of offering to help.
Start with a conversation. We’ll walk through what you’re dealing with and give you honest options, including whether filing an insurance claim makes sense for your situation. No pressure, no obligation, no cost.
Colorado’s fire risk isn’t limited to wildfire season. Kitchen fires, electrical fires, and heating system failures happen year-round. Colorado’s dry climate means fire can spread and smoke can penetrate faster than in more humid environments.
We serve the full Front Range from our offices in Centennial and Colorado Springs, covering: