The situation

Illustrative example. Not a real job or customer.

In a hypothetical eight-story building near the Ballpark district, a restaurant's fryer catches fire during a busy evening. The hood suppression system activates and firefighters arrive and finish extinguishing it. No one is hurt. But smoke escaped into a pipe chase next to the kitchen and was drawn into an air handler that serves the lower office floors.

  1. The fire department clears the building and releases it late that night. The engineer shuts down the air handler serving floors two through four.
  2. The next morning, office tenants on floors two and three report a strong smoky odor and a fine film on desks near supply diffusers.
  3. The property manager closes the affected floors for the day, sends a tenant notice, and calls the owner's insurer.
  4. The restaurant's insurer brings its own restoration contractor for the kitchen; the owner engages a separate firm for common areas, shafts and office suites.
  5. Both contractors walk the building together and agree on boundaries: kitchen and dining room for one, everything else for the other.
  6. The air handler, ductwork and coils serving the affected floors are inspected and cleaned before the system restarts.

Office floors reopen in stages after cleaning and odor checks with the HVAC running. The restaurant stays closed longer for equipment replacement, hood and duct cleaning, and inspections. Each tenant's cleaning is documented separately for their carriers.

Who handled what in this example

Area
Kitchen and dining room
Responsible party
Restaurant tenant and its insurer
Key work
Fire damage repair, equipment, exhaust hood and duct cleaning
Area
Pipe chase and shafts
Responsible party
Building owner
Key work
Residue cleaning, sealing gaps around penetrations
Area
Air handler and ductwork
Responsible party
Building owner
Key work
Inspection and cleaning before restart
Area
Office suites
Responsible party
Owner for base building; tenants for contents
Key work
Surface cleaning, ceiling tile replacement, contents cleaning
Area
Elevator cabs and lobbies
Responsible party
Building owner
Key work
Cleaning of residue and odor

Decision points the manager faced

  1. Whether to restart the air handler

    Restarting early would have spread residue further. It stayed off until inspected.

  2. Whether to close office floors

    Closing for a day avoided complaints and gave time for an initial assessment.

  3. How to divide the work

    A joint walk-through between contractors set clear boundaries and avoided double billing.

  4. When to reopen

    Floors reopened only after cleaning was complete and odor was checked under normal ventilation.

Questions that came up with tenants

  1. Is the air safe to breathe now, and how was that determined?
  2. Will my computers and furniture be cleaned, and by whom?
  3. Who pays for my company's lost workday?
  4. What is being done to keep this from happening again?

General information for Downtown Denver, not a quote or professional advice. In an emergency, call 911.