Hear from Our Customers
The fire trucks leave. You’re standing there looking at water-soaked floors, soot on every surface, and that smoke smell already working its way into the drywall. You’ve got 48 hours before secondary damage turns a bad situation into a worse one.
Soot eats through paint and metal. Water from the hoses triggers mold growth in wall cavities. Smoke odor bonds to porous materials and doesn’t just air out. Every hour you wait, restoration gets more expensive and more invasive.
You need someone who shows up fast, documents everything your insurance company requires, and handles both the fire damage and the water damage the firefighters left behind. That’s what fire and smoke restoration actually looks like when it’s done right—containment, extraction, air scrubbing, deodorization, and a paper trail that gets your claim paid.
We’ve been doing this in Providence since 2016. You call, we answer—not a voicemail, a person. We’re on-site in 60 to 90 minutes with moisture meters, thermal cameras, and a process that stops the damage from spreading while you figure out what comes next.
Elite Clean Restoration has been handling fire damage cleanup in Providence and the surrounding Indiana communities for nearly a decade. We’re IICRC-certified in Water Damage Restoration (WRT), Applied Structural Drying (ASD), and Applied Microbial Remediation (AMRT). We carry EPA RRP credentials where applicable and maintain a BBB A+ rating.
Providence homeowners deal with older housing stock, freeze-thaw cycles that stress structures, and humidity swings that complicate drying timelines. We built our protocols around those realities. Our techs wear shoe covers, set up HEPA-filtered containment barriers, and update you every 48 hours with photos and moisture maps—not because it’s nice to have, but because your claim adjuster requires it.
We’re not the cheapest option. We’re the option that shows up when we say we will, uses calibrated equipment, and doesn’t leave until the job passes post-remediation verification. That’s what you’re paying for.
You call our 24/7 line and talk to a real person who dispatches a crew immediately. We arrive in 60 to 90 minutes, assess the damage, and start containment to protect unaffected areas. That same visit, we document everything with photos and moisture readings, then send you a preliminary scope within 24 hours.
Next comes extraction if there’s standing water from fire hoses, followed by structural drying using commercial dehumidifiers and air movers. We’re tracking moisture levels daily until materials hit dry standard—usually 3 to 5 days depending on what got wet. While that’s running, we’re cleaning soot off surfaces, running HEPA air scrubbers to pull smoke particulate out of the air, and treating for odor with hydroxyl generators or thermal fogging.
Once everything’s dry and clean, we handle pack-out for contents that need off-site restoration, coordinate HVAC duct cleaning if smoke traveled through your system, and walk you through the space before we close out. You get a certificate of completion, a full photo log, and a follow-up call 14 days later to make sure nothing was missed. If your insurance requires additional documentation, we provide it. If you need a contents storage estimate, we give you that too.
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Fire restoration isn’t just about cleaning up what you can see. It’s about addressing what you can’t—smoke residue inside ductwork, water trapped in subfloors, soot particles embedded in textured ceilings, and odor molecules that have bonded to every porous surface in the affected area.
Our fire damage inspection starts with thermal imaging to find hidden moisture and a particle test to determine soot composition. From there, we deploy containment barriers with negative air pressure to prevent cross-contamination. We pull baseboards to check for water intrusion, set up desiccant dehumidifiers in crawl spaces if needed, and use moisture mapping to track drying progress in real time.
Providence homes—especially older builds—often have plaster walls, hardwood subfloors, and knob-and-tube wiring that complicate the drying process. We adjust our equipment and methods accordingly. If your HVAC system was running during the fire, we’ll inspect and clean the ductwork to prevent recirculating soot every time the heat kicks on. If you’ve got contents that need cleaning or storage during reconstruction, we coordinate pack-out and inventory everything.
You also get direct insurance billing if you want it, Xactimate-aligned pricing so there’s no dispute over line items, and a dedicated claims liaison who handles the paperwork. For non-insurance jobs, we offer discounts for military members, seniors, first responders, and teachers.
Soot starts etching into metal and glass within hours. It’s acidic, so it corrodes finishes, tarnishes fixtures, and discolors grout before you even notice it happening. If the fire department used water to knock down the flames, you’re also dealing with absorption into drywall, insulation, and framing—mold can start colonizing within 24 to 48 hours if those materials stay wet.
Smoke odor is another issue. The longer it sits, the deeper it penetrates. What starts as a surface problem becomes a structural one because smoke particles work their way into porous materials like drywall, carpet padding, and wood studs. At that point, you’re not just cleaning—you’re replacing.
The window for mitigation is tight. If you call within the first few hours, we can often save materials that would otherwise need full removal. Wait a few days, and you’re looking at a bigger scope, higher costs, and a longer timeline. That’s not a scare tactic—it’s how building science works.
Most homeowner’s policies in Indiana cover fire damage, including the cost of cleanup, structural drying, smoke odor removal, and contents restoration. The average fire insurance claim runs around $77,000 nationally, but your actual coverage depends on your policy limits, deductible, and whether you carry replacement cost or actual cash value coverage.
What trips people up is documentation. Insurance companies want proof of pre-loss condition, proof of damage, proof of mitigation efforts, and proof that the work was necessary. That’s why we photograph everything, log moisture readings daily, and provide detailed scopes that align with Xactimate pricing—the same software most adjusters use.
We also offer direct billing, which means you’re not fronting tens of thousands of dollars while waiting for reimbursement. Our claims liaison coordinates with your adjuster, provides supplemental documentation if they push back on line items, and keeps you updated on approval status. If you’re not sure what your policy covers, we can walk through it with you during the initial assessment. We’ve been doing this long enough to know what gets approved and what doesn’t.
Cleanup is surface-level—wiping down soot, removing debris, airing out the space. Restoration is returning the structure to pre-loss condition, which includes everything cleanup covers plus structural drying, odor neutralization, air quality treatment, HVAC decontamination, and often reconstruction once the mitigation phase is complete.
If the fire was small and contained—say, a stovetop grease fire that didn’t spread beyond the kitchen—you might only need cleanup and repainting. But if smoke traveled through the house, if firefighters used hoses, or if heat damaged framing or electrical systems, you’re looking at full restoration. That means drying out wall cavities, treating for mold prevention, running air scrubbers for days, sealing surfaces to lock in residual odor, and potentially rebuilding sections of the structure.
We handle both, but we’re not going to sell you restoration if cleanup is all you need. During the initial inspection, we’ll tell you what’s required to pass a post-remediation clearance test and what’s optional. You make the call. Our job is to give you accurate information so you can make an informed decision—and then execute whatever scope you approve.
Mitigation—the part where we stop further damage—usually takes 3 to 7 days depending on how much water the fire department used and how far smoke traveled. Drying is the longest phase because you can’t rush it without risking mold or warping. We’re monitoring moisture levels twice a day and adjusting equipment until everything hits dry standard.
Smoke odor removal adds another few days. We’re running hydroxyl generators or ozone machines (only when the space is unoccupied), applying sealant to porous surfaces that can’t be fully deodorized, and cleaning or replacing HVAC filters and ductwork if needed. If you’ve got contents that need pack-out, that happens in parallel so it doesn’t extend the timeline.
Reconstruction is separate and depends on how much was damaged. If you’re replacing drywall, repainting, and reinstalling trim, figure another 2 to 4 weeks. If you need structural work, permits, or electrical upgrades, it’s longer. We coordinate that phase too if you want, but the mitigation and restoration work—the part that prevents further loss—is typically wrapped within two weeks.
The wildcard is always insurance approval. If your adjuster needs a second inspection or pushes back on scope items, that can add days. We stay on top of it, but we can’t control their internal processes.
It depends on the extent of the damage and what phase we’re in. If the affected area is small and we can seal it off with containment barriers, you can usually stay in unaffected parts of the house. But if smoke traveled through the HVAC system, if there’s airborne soot, or if we’re running ozone treatment for odor removal, you’ll need to stay elsewhere until air quality is back to safe levels.
Water damage from firefighting efforts is another factor. If we’re drying out multiple rooms with dehumidifiers and air movers running 24/7, it’s loud, it’s disruptive, and humidity levels inside the containment area aren’t comfortable. Most people choose to stay with family or in a hotel during the drying phase—and if your insurance policy includes loss-of-use coverage (also called Additional Living Expenses), those costs are typically covered.
We’ll tell you upfront whether it’s safe and practical to stay. If it’s not, we’ll note that in the scope so your adjuster knows why you’re filing for temporary housing. Safety comes first, but we also understand that leaving your home adds stress to an already stressful situation. If there’s a way to make it work without compromising the quality of the restoration or your health, we’ll find it.
We don’t file the claim for you—that’s something you need to initiate with your insurance company—but once it’s open, we handle almost everything else. We document the damage with photos and written descriptions, provide a detailed estimate using Xactimate software (the same platform most adjusters use), and submit that directly to your carrier if you authorize us to.
If the adjuster schedules an inspection, we meet them on-site and walk through the damage together. If they issue a preliminary payment that doesn’t cover the full scope, we write a supplement with additional line items and justification. If they deny something we know is covered, we push back with supporting documentation—moisture logs, thermal images, industry standards that show why the work is necessary.
We also offer direct billing, which means the insurance company pays us directly and you’re only responsible for the deductible. That keeps you from having to front the full cost and wait for reimbursement. Our claims liaison stays in contact with your adjuster throughout the process, so you’re not playing phone tag or translating contractor language into insurance language.
You’ll still need to review and approve everything, but we remove the administrative burden. Most of our clients tell us that’s the part that made the biggest difference—not having to manage the paperwork while also managing the emotional toll of losing part of their home.
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