IICRC Standards for Fire Damage Restoration: S700 and Related Protocols

The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) publishes a family of technical standards that govern how fire and smoke damage restoration is performed across the United States. The flagship document in this family is the IICRC S700, Standard for Professional Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration, which establishes procedural baselines, safety requirements, and documentation expectations for certified practitioners. Understanding these standards is essential for anyone involved in insurance claims, contractor selection, or regulatory compliance in the restoration sector.

• Definition and scope
• Core mechanics or structure
• Causal relationships or drivers
• Classification boundaries
• Tradeoffs and tensions
• Common misconceptions
• Checklist or steps (non-advisory)
• Reference table or matrix
• References

Definition and scope

The IICRC S700 is an ANSI-accredited consensus standard developed through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) process, meaning it incorporates input from industry professionals, insurers, and other stakeholders before publication. The standard defines fire and smoke damage restoration as the process of returning a structure and its contents to a pre-loss condition following contamination by combustion byproducts — including soot, char, pyrolysis residues, and malodorous gases.

The scope of S700 covers:

• Structural surfaces affected by direct flame, heat, or smoke deposition
• Contents including textiles, electronics, documents, and furnishings
• HVAC systems contaminated by smoke particulate
• Water damage resulting from firefighting activities (which intersects with the IICRC S500 standard for water damage)

S700 does not govern industrial hazardous-materials remediation or asbestos abatement, both of which fall under separate federal and state regulatory frameworks. The asbestos and lead concerns in fire damage restoration topic is addressed through EPA and OSHA regulations, not through S700 directly.

The standard applies primarily to residential and commercial structures. Specialty environments — such as historic buildings or cleanroom facilities — may require supplemental protocols beyond what S700 prescribes.

Core mechanics or structure

The IICRC S700 is organized around a job-process framework with four primary phases: Assessment, Mitigation, Restoration, and Documentation. Each phase carries defined procedures and outcome criteria.

Assessment involves identifying the fire type, fuel sources, smoke migration paths, and structural integrity. Assessors classify residue types using standardized categories (detailed in the Classification section below) and determine whether contents can be restored or must be replaced — a determination with direct implications for fire damage restoration vs. replacement decisions.

Mitigation addresses immediate stabilization: boarding up openings, tarping the roof, removing standing water, and setting up containment zones to prevent cross-contamination. The IICRC S500 (Standard for Professional Water Damage Restoration) is referenced here because firefighting water introduces secondary damage tracked by separate psychrometric and microbial-risk criteria.

Restoration encompasses the core cleaning operations: dry and wet cleaning of surfaces, deodorization, HVAC cleaning, and content pack-out. S700 specifies that cleaning methods must be matched to residue type — a requirement that prevents the use of wet methods on dry, friable soot that would smear and embed further into porous materials.

Documentation requirements in S700 include job logs, photo documentation at each phase transition, moisture readings, air quality measurements, and a final clearance record. Insurers increasingly use S700 documentation compliance as a benchmark for claims adjudication.

The standard also cross-references IICRC S520 (Standard for Professional Mold Remediation) when elevated humidity levels following firefighting water intrusion create conditions that trigger mold risk after fire damage restoration.

Causal relationships or drivers

S700 was developed in response to a documented pattern of inconsistent outcomes in fire restoration work — where identical fire types in structurally similar buildings produced wildly different results depending on contractor methodology. The standard addresses 3 primary causal drivers of restoration failure:

1. Residue misidentification. Wet smoke residue from low-heat, smoldering fires behaves chemically differently from dry smoke residue produced by fast-burning, high-temperature fires. Using the wrong cleaning chemistry on either type accelerates damage rather than reversing it.

2. Odor source persistence. Incomplete deodorization — treating surfaces without addressing embedded odor molecules in substructures, insulation, or ductwork — produces callbacks and health complaints. S700 defines odor removal as a multi-stage process, not a single application event. The odor removal after fire damage reference covers the technical methods in greater depth.

3. Secondary water damage escalation. Water used in firefighting operations introduces humidity loads that, without structured drying protocols meeting S500 criteria, create conditions for microbial growth within 24–48 hours (IICRC S500, 5th Edition framework). S700 requires that drying validation data be incorporated into the job file.

Regulatory pressure from state contractor licensing boards and insurer audit requirements has accelerated adoption of S700 as a de facto minimum standard. OSHA's General Duty Clause (29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1)) creates liability exposure for contractors who expose workers to recognized hazards without documented hazard controls — a gap that S700's safety documentation provisions directly address.

Classification boundaries

IICRC S700 establishes a residue classification system that determines cleaning protocols. The 4 primary residue categories are:

Dry Smoke Residue — produced by fast-burning, high-temperature fires fueled by paper, wood, or natural fibers. Dry, powdery, and relatively easy to remove with dry cleaning methods before applying wet chemistry.

Wet Smoke Residue — produced by slow-burning, low-heat fires involving plastics, rubber, or synthetic materials. Sticky, pungent, and penetrating. Requires specialized alkaline or solvent-based chemistry and extended contact time.

Protein Residue — produced by kitchen fires involving organic matter. Nearly invisible but highly odorous. Standard visual inspection misses protein residue, which bonds to surfaces and requires enzymatic or alkaline cleaning agents specifically formulated for protein breakdown.

Fuel Oil Soot — produced by puffback events from oil-burning furnaces. Oily, penetrating, and capable of migrating through an entire HVAC system in a single incident. Addressed extensively in the IICRC S700 alongside smoke and soot damage restoration protocols.

A fifth category — Specialty Residues — covers fires involving chemicals, fire suppressants (including dry chemical agents from extinguishers), and industrial materials. These may trigger EPA or OSHA hazmat protocols outside S700's direct scope.

Tradeoffs and tensions

The IICRC S700 standard creates measurable procedural quality but introduces tensions in practical restoration contexts:

Speed vs. thoroughness. Insurance policy language frequently pressures contractors to minimize both scope and timeline. S700's documentation and phase-sequencing requirements extend job duration relative to non-standardized approaches. This creates friction between claims-adjusted timelines and full-standard compliance.

Cost transparency vs. competitive pricing. S700-compliant documentation makes cost structures more visible and auditable. Contractors who skip phases to reduce bids may win jobs but create liability exposure when outcomes are compared against the standard's defined outcomes.

Restoration vs. replacement thresholds. S700 does not set a universal cost-efficiency threshold for when restoration becomes economically inferior to replacement. That determination remains a judgment call influenced by insurer scope-of-loss calculations and the fire damage restoration costs framework applicable to each claim.

Standard revision lag. ANSI consensus standards undergo revision on multi-year cycles. The combustion chemistry of modern synthetic-heavy building materials — particularly from wildfire events covered under wildfire damage restoration — evolves faster than the standard revision schedule allows.

Common misconceptions

Misconception: IICRC certification means S700 compliance on every job.
Correction: IICRC certification is a credential held by individuals or firms based on training and examination. Compliance with S700 on a specific project depends on the work performed on that job, not on the firm's certification status alone. A certified firm can perform non-compliant work.

Misconception: S700 is a legal requirement.
Correction: S700 is a voluntary consensus standard. No federal statute mandates its use. However, contractual incorporation by insurers, franchise agreements, or state contractor licensing conditions can create indirect legal enforceability on specific projects.

Misconception: Protein residue is detectable by smell or visual inspection.
Correction: Protein residue from kitchen fires is nearly invisible and odor expression may be delayed until heat or humidity activates bonded residues. S700 specifically addresses this failure mode because it is a documented source of callbacks and incomplete remediation claims.

Misconception: One deodorization pass is sufficient.
Correction: S700 treats deodorization as a multi-stage process requiring source removal, surface treatment, and air treatment. Single-application approaches using ozone or thermal fogging without addressing embedded sources fail to meet S700's outcome criteria. The thermal fogging and ozone treatment for fire odor page addresses these methods in technical detail.

Checklist or steps (non-advisory)

The following sequence reflects the procedural framework described in IICRC S700 for a standard fire and smoke damage restoration project. This is a reference representation of the standard's structure, not a substitute for the full document or trained professional judgment.

1. Site safety assessment — Confirm structural stability, utility isolation status, and atmospheric hazards before entry. Reference OSHA 29 CFR 1910.120 for hazardous environment entry requirements where applicable.
2. Pre-cleaning documentation — Photograph all affected areas. Record residue types and distribution. Establish scope of damage boundaries.
3. Residue classification — Categorize deposits as dry smoke, wet smoke, protein, fuel oil soot, or specialty residues across each affected zone.
4. Mitigation actions — Install containment barriers, complete emergency board-up and tarping, initiate water extraction if firefighting water is present.
5. Drying validation — Establish drying goals per IICRC S500 criteria. Log psychrometric readings at intervals until drying standards are met.
6. Dry cleaning phase — Remove loose dry residues using HEPA-filtered vacuuming and dry sponge methods prior to any wet cleaning application.
7. Wet cleaning phase — Apply chemistry matched to residue classification. Document dwell times and application methods.
8. Deodorization — source removal — Remove unsalvageable porous materials that serve as odor reservoirs (insulation, drywall, carpeting beyond cleaning thresholds).
9. Deodorization — surface and air treatment — Apply counteractants, thermal fogging, or hydroxyl treatment per S700 methodology sequence.
10. HVAC system inspection and cleaning — Assess duct contamination; clean or replace components as needed per NADCA standards where applicable.
11. Contents pack-out and restoration — Process salvageable contents under S700 contents-restoration protocols. Document each item's disposition.
12. Final air quality verification — Conduct post-restoration air sampling where required. Record results in job documentation file.
13. Closeout documentation — Compile complete job record including all phase logs, moisture readings, photo documentation, and clearance data.

Reference table or matrix

References

• IICRC — Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification
• IICRC S700 Standard for Professional Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration
• IICRC S500 Standard for Professional Water Damage Restoration
• ANSI — American National Standards Institute
• OSHA 29 CFR 1910.120 — Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response
• OSHA General Duty Clause — 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1)
• NADCA — National Air Duct Cleaners Association, ACR Standard
• EPA — Asbestos and renovation/demolition regulations under NESHAP, 40 CFR Part 61 Subpart M