Failed a Fire Inspection for Your Hood? Do This

If the fire marshal cited your kitchen exhaust system, you have a re-inspection date and a short list of things to fix: get the whole system cleaned (hood, plenum, duct, fan, roof) by a company the marshal will accept, get the dated sticker on the hood and the written report in your hand, fix whatever made the last cleaning incomplete (usually a missing access panel or a fan with no hinge), and put your compliance file where an inspector can see it. That is a seven-day job if you start today. It is a closed kitchen if you wait.

Here is the plan our crews walk operators through, day by day, and what the inspector is going to look for when they come back.

Day 1: Read the citation and call the inspector

Start with the paper. A hood citation usually names one of four things: no service label or an expired one, visible grease in the plenum or filters, no cleaning records on site, or an inaccessible duct that has never been cleaned. Sometimes all four. The citation also names the re-inspection date, and in some jurisdictions it comes with an order to stop cooking until the system is cleaned and documented.

Call the inspector before you call anyone else. Ask two questions: exactly what they need to see at re-inspection, and whether they will accept a written report and photos or want to walk the roof themselves. Inspectors are not the enemy here. They would rather sign off a clean kitchen than close one, and telling you what they want costs them nothing.

In Portland, Portland Fire and Rescue policy FIR-8.08 spells the requirements out: cleaning at monthly, three-month, or six-month intervals by cooking type, a label with the date, company, certification numbers, and areas not cleaned, and inspection and cleaning reports kept on site for the Fire Marshal's Office [1]. Elsewhere in Oregon the fire code sends the inspector to NFPA 96 Chapter 12 through Section 606 [2]. In Washington it is WAC 51-54A-0606, which requires the system to be operated, inspected, and maintained per NFPA 96 Chapter 12 [3]. Same checklist everywhere: sticker, plenum, report, roof.

Day 1 to 2: Book a full-system cleaning, not a wipe-down

This is where operators lose the week. The cleaner who left you with the citation is usually the cleaner who only did the canopy, and calling them back for a "touch-up" gets you a new sticker over the same duct. The inspector already knows what the plenum looked like. A fresh label without a fresh plenum is a second citation.

What you need is a cleaning that covers what NFPA 96 section 12.6.2 covers: hoods, grease removal devices, fans, ducts, and other appurtenances, cleaned to remove combustible contaminants [4]. Ask the company four things on the phone. Do you go on the roof and hinge the fan open? Do you photograph the plenum, duct, and fan bowl before and after? Do you deliver a written report, and how fast? Will the fire marshal here accept your certification? A company that hesitates on any of those is not the company for this week. What a full job covers is on our commercial hood cleaning page, and for a citation we schedule the same way we schedule a fan failure: fast, after close, and with the report on the way out the door.

Grease-coated plenum behind the filters before cleaning, the first thing an inspector sees when they pull a filter

Day 2 to 4: The cleaning night

Plan on the crew arriving after close and being done before the morning prep. Cover or move what they ask you to. Give them roof access (a key to the hatch, or a ladder location) before they arrive, not at midnight. Make sure someone can lock up.

During the job, three things happen that matter for the re-inspection. The filters come out and the plenum gets scraped and degreased to bare metal. The duct gets opened at every access panel and cleaned as far as it can be reached. The fan on the roof gets hinged open and the bowl and blades get cleaned. NFPA 96 requires the electrical switches to be locked out during the work and returned to operable at the end [4]; a fan switch left off is one of the classic tells of a sloppy job [5], and it will also get you a call from the opening cook.

Clean plenum and filter track after a full-system cleaning

Before the crew leaves you should have the dated sticker on the hood and a certificate. The photo report follows, and NFPA 96 sections 12.6.14 and 12.6.15 require the written inspection and cleaning reports within two weeks [4]. For a re-inspection, ask for them in days, not weeks. Our crews upload the job photos the same night, and the report goes out well ahead of any re-inspection date we know about.

Holding a citation right now? Call (800) 973-5573 any hour, or send the estimate form with your re-inspection date in the notes. We schedule citations ahead of routine work.

Day 4 to 5: Fix what caused the citation

A cleaning fixes the grease. It does not fix the reason the grease was there. Look at the report for two lines.

Inaccessible areas not cleaned. If the report lists a section of duct the crew could not reach, the inspector is going to read that line too. The fix is a duct access panel, cut in at the right spot so the next cleaning reaches the whole run. NFPA 96 requires the report to list panel locations for exactly this reason [4]. Our access panel installation service can usually do it on the same visit or the next one, and it turns a permanent "inaccessible" into a clean duct.

Fan access. If the fan had to be unbolted to clean the bowl, or could not be fully cleaned because it could not be tipped, a hinge kit is the fix. NFPA 96 section 8.1.6.3 requires access to rooftop fans for cleaning [4]. A hinged fan gets cleaned properly every visit, and it stops the wiring from getting torn every time someone lifts it.

Get these scheduled before the re-inspection if you can, and if you cannot, have the work order in your file. An inspector who sees a plan and a date treats the finding differently than one who sees a shrug.

Day 5 to 6: Build the compliance file

The inspector's second question after "was it cleaned" is "show me." Put these in one folder, physical or digital, at the restaurant, not the office.

The certificate from the cleaning.
The written inspection and cleaning report, with the areas-not-cleaned and access-panel lines.
The before and after photos, or the link to them.
The date of the next cleaning, set to your NFPA 96 tier: monthly for solid fuel, quarterly for high-volume (24-hour, charbroiling, wok), semiannually for moderate, annually for low-volume [4].
Your suppression system inspection tags, because the inspector will ask about those next.
Any work order for panels or hinges.

Portland requires the reports on site and available to the Fire Marshal's Office on request [1]. Every other jurisdiction we work in appreciates it. Details on what the file should contain are on the NFPA 96 compliance hub, and if you run more than one kitchen, keep one file per store.

Day 7: The re-inspection

Walk it the way the inspector will. Read the sticker: date, company, phone, and in Portland the certification numbers and areas not cleaned [1]. Pull a filter and look at the plenum with a flashlight. It should be clean metal. Have the file open on the counter. If the inspector wants the roof, have the hatch key ready.

Most re-inspections after a full-system cleaning are short. The inspector reads the label, checks the plenum, flips through the report, and signs. If the original citation was for an inaccessible duct and the panel is not in yet, show the work order and the date.

What if the kitchen was ordered closed?

Then the seven days compress into two. Call the inspector first for the exact release conditions, book the cleaning for tonight, and ask the company to hand you the certificate and the photos before they leave. We treat a stop-cooking order as the top of the schedule, because from your side it is simple: the kitchen is not making money until it is cleared. Call (800) 973-5573 and say the word "closed." A person answers.

How do I keep this from happening again?

Put the kitchen on the right interval and use a company that documents the whole system. That is the entire answer. Most citations our crews clean up after come from one of two histories: a kitchen that never scheduled cleanings at all, or a kitchen that paid a canopy-only cleaner twice a year and trusted the sticker. The first is fixed with a calendar. The second is fixed by asking your cleaner for the roof photos and switching when there are none. A fire in the duct is a worse week than a citation. Cooking equipment caused over 60 percent of fires in eating and drinking establishments in the NFPA's 2014 to 2018 data [6], and the duct is what carries them.

Frequently asked questions

Can the fire marshal close my restaurant for a dirty hood?

Yes. Fire marshals can cite, tag, or order cooking stopped when the exhaust system is a fire hazard. Most citations come with a re-inspection date instead of a closure, but a heavily loaded duct can get a stop-cooking order on the spot.

How fast can a hood cleaning be done after a citation?

Usually within days, after close. Tell the company the re-inspection date when you call. Ask for the certificate and sticker the night of the job and the written report before the re-inspection.

Will a new sticker satisfy the inspector?

Only if the plenum behind the filters matches it. Inspectors pull a filter. A fresh label over a dirty plenum is a second citation, and in Portland the label has to list areas not cleaned [1].

What paperwork does the fire marshal want at re-inspection?

The dated service label on the hood, the written inspection and cleaning report (NFPA 96 sections 12.6.14 and 12.6.15) [4], and in Portland the records on site [1]. Photos of the duct and fan settle most arguments.

My report says "inaccessible areas." Is that a fail?

Not by itself. It is the honest line NFPA 96 requires. The fix is an access panel so the next cleaning reaches the whole run. Have the panel scheduled and the work order in the file.

Does the health inspector check the hood too?

County health inspects for sanitation, not fire code, but dripping filters and a greasy wall behind the line are sanitation findings. One full cleaning with photos answers the fire marshal, the insurer, and the health inspector.

Seven days is plenty if you start now. Get a free estimate with your re-inspection date, or call (800) 973-5573 any hour.

Sources

Portland Fire and Rescue policy FIR-8.08 (intervals, label contents, records on site) (portland.gov)
Oregon Fire Code 2022, Chapter 6, Section 606 (up.codes)
Washington Administrative Code 51-54A-0606, Section 606.3 (app.leg.wa.gov)
NFPA 96 Chapter 12 summary (12.6.2 scope, 12.6.3 lockout, 12.6.14 and 12.6.15 reports, 8.1.6.3 fan access, Table 12.4), Facilitec Southwest (facilitec-sw.com)
Pye-Barker Fire and Safety, "Five ways to avoid a bad hood cleaning" (pyebarkerfs.com)
Ansul, "Two NFPA restaurant fire stats," citing NFPA data for 2014 to 2018 (ansul.com)

Failed a fire inspection for your hood? What to do in the next 7 days