Fire & Smoke Restoration Twin Cities
Soot and char removal, smoke odor neutralization, HVAC decontamination, and coordinated water mitigation after a fire. Patriot Building Solutions brings HAZMAT-certified, Marine Corps discipline to recovery work across the Twin Cities metro.
Fire Damage Is More Than What You Can See
The visible damage from a fire — charred framing, burned contents, blackened walls — is almost always smaller than the total scope of the restoration. Smoke travels. Soot settles on every horizontal and vertical surface in a home, coats the inside of HVAC ductwork, penetrates drywall and upholstery, and works its way into closets, drawers, and cabinets that look untouched at first glance. Water from firefighting efforts saturates flooring, framing, and ceiling cavities, and in Minnesota winter that water becomes a freeze risk within hours. Odor lingers in every porous material until each one is cleaned, sealed, or removed. Restoring a fire-damaged building is a systematic operation, not a deep clean.
Minnesota fires carry unique recovery challenges. Our homes are sealed tight against 40 to 60 degree temperature differentials, which means smoke penetrates deeper into porous materials than in leakier warm-climate buildings. Space-heater fires spike during extended winter deep freezes. Older Minneapolis and Saint Paul homes with plaster walls, original hardwood, and knob-and-tube wiring add complexity to both the fire origin investigation and the restoration scope. Lithium-ion battery fires from e-bikes and scooters — an increasingly common source — produce acidic smoke residues that corrode metal surfaces and require specialized cleaning. Every fire has its own chemistry, and the restoration scope has to match it.
Patriot Building Solutions is a veteran-owned restoration and cleaning company based in Inver Grove Heights. Owner Israel Martinez holds HAZMAT, First Responder, and Six Sigma certifications, and our crews train to IICRC S700 fire and smoke damage protocols. We coordinate with fire marshals, insurance adjusters, and reconstruction contractors from the first phone call. Call (651) 412-3830 day or night or request a free assessment.
What We Do After a Fire Loss
Emergency Board-Up
Windows broken during firefighting, doors forced open by fire crews, and roof breaches from ventilation cuts all have to be sealed before restoration can begin. We board up openings, tarp roofs, and secure the property against further weather damage and unauthorized entry within our 60 to 90 minute dispatch window.
Water Mitigation
Firefighting water saturates everything it touches. In winter that water becomes a freeze risk within hours. We coordinate water extraction, structural drying, and temporary heat as a parallel operation to soot and smoke cleanup, preventing a fire loss from turning into a mold job three weeks later.
Soot & Char Removal
Wet-smoke, dry-smoke, protein, and synthetic-residue soot each require different cleaning chemistry. We identify the smoke type, select appropriate chemical agents, and clean structural surfaces with HEPA vacuuming, chemical sponge dry-cleaning, and surface washing. Affected materials that cannot be restored are documented and removed.
Smoke Odor Removal
Odor is eliminated by removing the source, not masking it. Thermal fogging, ozone treatment, and hydroxyl generators penetrate porous materials where soot particles lodge. We seal surfaces that off-gassed into the structure and test every affected zone before calling the job complete. Odor clearance is documented for the adjuster and property record.
HVAC Decontamination
Running the HVAC after a fire without decontamination spreads soot and odor into rooms that had no direct fire exposure. We clean ductwork, blower components, evaporator coils, and filters, or arrange replacement when the contamination level warrants it. A contaminated HVAC left running is the fastest way to turn a contained fire into a whole-building problem.
Content Cleaning
Salvageable contents are cleaned on site or packed out to a controlled cleaning environment depending on volume and contamination. Electronics receive specialized ultrasonic or corrosion-neutralizing treatment. Soft goods like clothing, linens, and upholstery are laundered or dry-cleaned with smoke-specific protocols. Every item is inventoried for insurance and returned with documentation.
Minnesota Fire Types
Space Heater Fires. Every winter deep freeze pushes Minnesota households to supplement their furnaces with electric and fuel-burning space heaters. Heaters placed too close to upholstery, bedding, curtains, or paper create most of the single-family residential fires we respond to between December and February. The resulting smoke damage is concentrated but penetrates deeply because of how tightly sealed our homes are in winter.
Kitchen & Grease Fires. Unattended cooking is the leading cause of residential fires in Minnesota and nationwide. Grease fires produce wet, protein-based smoke that coats walls, cabinetry, and every surface with a sticky, malodorous film. Kitchen restoration typically involves cabinet cleaning or replacement, complete HVAC decontamination, and structural cleaning of adjacent rooms where smoke traveled through HVAC and doorways.
Electrical Fires. Older Minneapolis and Saint Paul homes with knob-and-tube or early aluminum wiring have elevated electrical fire risk, particularly in attics and wall cavities where the damage can spread before it is discovered. These fires require coordination with a licensed electrician for the wiring fix, and the fire marshal’s investigation determines the approved restoration timeline.
Chimney & Fireplace Fires. Creosote buildup in wood-stove and fireplace chimneys ignites during extended cold-weather use. Chimney fires extend into attic framing and roof assemblies, producing smoke damage that travels through ductwork and wall cavities across the whole house. We coordinate with chimney sweeps, roofers, and framers to sequence the restoration correctly.
Lithium-Ion Battery Fires. E-bikes, scooters, power tools, and laptop batteries produce acidic smoke residues that corrode metal, electronics, and plumbing fixtures rapidly. These fires have grown sharply as a percentage of residential fires in the last three years, and they require faster response and more aggressive cleaning chemistry than conventional smoke events.
Fire Restoration FAQs
What does fire damage restoration actually involve?
Fire damage restoration covers soot and char removal from structural materials and contents, smoke odor neutralization, HVAC system decontamination, water damage mitigation from firefighting efforts, structural stabilization and board-up, content cleaning and pack-out, and documentation for insurance. The scope depends on fire size, materials burned (wood, plastic, grease, synthetic), and how long smoke had to settle. Our process follows IICRC S700 standards and coordinates with your adjuster from day one.
Why are winter fires in Minnesota harder to restore?
Minnesota homes are sealed tight against 40-plus degree temperature differentials between inside and outside. When a fire happens in January, smoke has nowhere to escape and penetrates deeper into drywall, wood framing, insulation, cabinetry, and HVAC ductwork than it would in a leakier warm-climate building. Meanwhile, firefighting water creates an immediate freeze risk — pipes and wet materials can freeze within hours. Winter fire restoration requires temporary heat, simultaneous water mitigation, and more aggressive odor neutralization than summer jobs.
How do you remove smoke odor from a home or building?
Odor removal requires finding and eliminating every porous material that absorbed the smoke, not masking the smell. We remove unsalvageable contents, clean salvageable items with appropriate chemistry for the smoke type, seal surfaces that off-gassed into, clean and sometimes replace HVAC components and ductwork, and run thermal fogging, ozone treatment, or hydroxyl generators depending on the smoke category and occupied status of the building. Testing happens in every affected zone before we call the job complete.
Do I need to clean the HVAC system after a fire?
Almost always, yes. Smoke and soot travel through return-air pathways into every room the system serves, coating ductwork, blower components, evaporator coils, and filters. Running the HVAC after a fire without decontamination redistributes soot and odor into rooms that had no direct fire exposure, turning a contained problem into a whole-building problem. We coordinate HVAC decontamination as a standard part of the fire restoration scope.
Will my homeowners insurance cover fire restoration?
Standard Minnesota homeowners policies cover fire damage, including the water damage caused by firefighting efforts, smoke and soot damage, and usually temporary housing during restoration. Policy limits, deductibles, and coverage for contents versus structure vary by carrier. We document every step of the restoration with itemized scopes, photos, and content manifests sized to adjuster expectations, and we communicate directly with your carrier’s field adjuster throughout the job. You focus on recovering, we handle the documentation.
Can you handle commercial fire restoration?
Yes. Office buildings, retail, restaurants, dealerships, warehouses, and apartment buildings are all part of our scope. See commercial restoration for the full commercial approach, including business continuity planning and content pack-out for high-volume losses. Contact us to discuss a commercial fire response.
After a Fire, Time Is Everything.
Soot becomes permanently bonded to surfaces within days. Smoke odor sinks into porous materials. Call Patriot Building Solutions the moment the fire is out and the site is cleared.
Patriot Building Solutions provides fire and smoke damage restoration across the Twin Cities metro. Based in Inver Grove Heights, MN. Explore related services: all restoration, water damage, storm damage, commercial restoration, mold remediation. Contact us or visit the photo gallery.