Wildfire smoke damage cleanup for Colorado Springs homes

Even a well-built house exchanges air with the outside all the time. Air leaks around window sashes and door sweeps, through attic and soffit vents, around plumbing and wiring penetrations, through fireplace dampers and dryer vents, and in many homes through a fresh-air intake connected to the furnace. When a wildfire burns nearby, the outdoor air is thick with fine particles and gases, and that air is drawn in through every one of those openings. Wind makes it worse by pressurizing the side of the house facing the fire.

Wildfire smoke differs from the smoke inside a house fire. It has traveled, so the largest particles have usually dropped out, but the finest ones remain and they penetrate deeply into fabrics and filters. Ash and char from burned vegetation can also land on decks, roofs and in gutters and be tracked inside. Some of that ash contains residues from burned structures, vehicles and fences, not only trees and grass.

The result is usually widespread, thin contamination: a smell that fills the house, a gray film on window sills and in the garage, dirty furnace filters and dust that reappears after cleaning. It is a specialized form of smoke damage cleanup, with more emphasis on air, filters, ducts and soft goods than on heavy surface residue.

Colorado Springs' two most destructive wildfires came a year apart. The Waldo Canyon Fire began west of the city on June 23, 2012, burned 18,247 acres and destroyed 346 homes, most of them when wind-driven flames swept into Mountain Shadows on June 26. ^[5] More than 32,000 residents of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Woodland Park were evacuated. The Black Forest Fire began on June 11, 2013, northeast of the city, and destroyed about 500 homes in Black Forest, with about 35,500 people evacuated. ^[6]

In both fires, many more houses were exposed to smoke and ash than were burned. Gas service was shut off to about 4,200 undamaged homes in Mountain Shadows as a precaution, and restoring it took crews door to door. ^[7] Smoke from those fires, and from fires elsewhere in the West since then, has spread across neighborhoods far from the flames.

Not all local wildfire risk is in the forested foothills. In May 2022 a grass fire in Stetson Hills on the city's east side forced about 500 homes to evacuate. ^[8] Grass fires move fast in wind and send smoke straight into nearby houses.

Heating and cooling systems are the biggest pathway for wildfire smoke into a house and the biggest reservoir of it afterward. If the furnace or air conditioner ran while smoke was outside, ash and fine particles were drawn into the return ducts and through the filter, and some passed into the supply ducts. A fresh-air intake brings outdoor air in directly. Evaporative coolers, common in some older Colorado homes, pull in large volumes of outside air and should be shut off when smoke is present.

The EPA recommends using the highest-efficiency filter your HVAC system can handle and running the system's fan to filter indoor air when outdoor air is smoky, as long as the system recirculates rather than bringing in outdoor air. ^[3] After the event, the filter should be replaced and the system inspected. If ash is found in the ducts or blower, cleaning them is part of the job rather than an optional add-on.

Attics are ventilated by design, so they often collect more ash than living spaces. Ash settles on insulation and framing, and the smell can come down through ceiling light fixtures and attic hatches. A contractor should look in the attic as part of the assessment. Lightly dusted insulation may be left; heavily contaminated insulation is usually removed and replaced.

Outside, ash in gutters and on roofs can wash into downspouts and onto patios with the next rain or snowmelt, and it should be removed with damp methods. Siding, decks and outdoor furniture can usually be washed with low-pressure water and mild detergent. Heat may have damaged vinyl siding, window screens, vents and plastic fixtures on the side of the house facing the fire; note and photograph that damage for your insurer.

Fine particles from wildfire smoke can irritate the eyes, nose and throat and worsen asthma, COPD and heart disease. Children, older adults, pregnant people and people with existing conditions are the most at risk. The EPA's guidance for indoor air during smoke events centers on reducing exposure: keep windows closed, filter the air with HEPA cleaners and high-efficiency HVAC filters, and avoid activities that add particles indoors, such as frying, vacuuming with non-HEPA vacuums, burning candles or using a wood stove.

Once the smoke has cleared outside, cleanup can create its own exposure by stirring up settled ash. That is why the methods above all aim to capture ash rather than move it, and why sensitive family members are better away while cleanup happens.

Smoke and ash damage without flames can be harder to document than a burned house, so careful records matter. Photograph ash deposits, filters, exterior heat damage and affected belongings, keep a log of what you clean and what smells, and keep receipts for filters, cleaning supplies and any temporary housing. Many policies cover smoke damage from a wildfire, but terms vary; read your policy and talk to your insurer.

Colorado's Division of Insurance publishes guidance for policyholders after wildfires and evacuations. The guide working with your insurance adjuster covers how to prepare for the adjuster's visit.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department maps the city's wildland-urban interface and requires ignition-resistant construction for new building there. ^[9] Residents can look up wildfire risk for an address on the city's site. Many of the same measures that keep embers out of a house also keep smoke and ash out: fine metal mesh over attic and crawlspace vents, tight-fitting doors and weatherstripping, closed fireplace dampers, and clean gutters.

Inside, a household plan for smoke days helps: know how to set your HVAC system to recirculate, keep spare high-efficiency filters, and have a portable HEPA cleaner for a bedroom that can serve as a clean room. NIST's research on fires in the wildland-urban interface shows that embers are a major way homes ignite, so vent screens and clearing flammable material close to the house also protect against fire itself. ^[10]

Homes on the western and southern edges of the city, near the foothills and open space, face the most direct wildfire exposure. That includes neighborhoods such as Mountain Shadows and Peregrine on the northwest side and Broadmoor on the slopes of Cheyenne Mountain. North of the city, Black Forest's ponderosa pine forest has its own history. On the east side, grasslands and open space between subdivisions can carry fast grass fires.

Smoke, though, travels much farther than fire. Neighborhoods across the city, from the Old North End to the east side, can be affected by smoke from fires in the foothills or elsewhere in the region.

Garages are leaky by design, so they often collect more ash than any room in the house. Vehicles parked inside or outside during a wildfire can be coated with ash and may draw it into their cabin air systems. Workshops, sheds and barns hold stored items that absorb smoke. Clean garages with the same damp, HEPA-first approach, and avoid blowing ash out of the garage with a leaf blower, which spreads it to the next house.

For vehicles, a wash with plenty of water removes exterior ash, and the cabin air filter should be replaced. Ask your auto insurer about smoke damage to vehicles separately from your homeowners claim. Outbuildings with stored hay, feed or wood can hold smoke odor for a long time; ventilate them well and inspect stored materials before use.

During large fires, utilities may shut off gas and electricity to whole neighborhoods as a precaution. After Waldo Canyon, Colorado Springs Utilities crews restored gas home by home, checking meters for leaks, purging air from the lines, relighting pilot lights and running safety tests, and they needed someone at each home to give permission. Expect the same kind of process after a large fire, and do not try to turn a utility-shut gas meter back on yourself.

If your water comes from a private well, as it does for many homes in Black Forest and other rural parts of El Paso County, check with county health guidance on testing after a wildfire, and inspect the wellhead and any electrical equipment for heat damage. Refrigerators and freezers that lost power for a long period should be emptied and cleaned before use.