Your first priority is safety. Do not enter the property until the fire department or other appropriate authority says it is safe. Once access is permitted, the next priorities are usually securing the property, preventing additional damage, documenting conditions, and beginning an assessment of the fire, smoke, soot, water, and contents damage.

MSB provides

Contact your insurance carrier and a qualified restoration company as soon as practical. MSB provides 24/7 emergency response and can help stabilize the property, document existing conditions, and develop a plan for the restoration work that follows.

Yes. Firefighting operations can leave doors, windows, roofs, walls, and other areas of a building open or damaged. These openings may expose the property to weather, unauthorized entry, animals, or additional damage.

Unauthorized access can be blocked through security fencing around the perimeter of the property. This is important to prevent additional damage or another insurance loss due to a trespasser becoming injured. We can also provide other services such as cameras, security guards and lighting.

MSB can provide emergency board-up and temporary stabilization after the property has been released for safe access. Depending on the loss, this may include securing windows and doors, protecting roof openings, isolating unsafe areas, and documenting conditions before restoration begins. The objective is to protect the property while the complete scope of damage is being evaluated.

Yes. MSB regularly works with property owners, managers, insurance adjusters, carriers, and other claim professionals throughout the restoration process. We understand that an adjuster needs clear information about what was damaged, why work is necessary, and what has been completed.

Our project teams provide photographs, videos, estimates, inventories, measurements, project documentation, and other supporting information as appropriate. We can communicate directly with the adjuster regarding the restoration scope while keeping the property owner or manager informed. Coverage and claim-payment decisions ultimately remain with the insurance carrier.

Detailed documentation begins at the start of the project and continues throughout restoration and reconstruction. MSB’s project managers, supervisors, and technicians take photographs and videos to document property conditions, affected areas, work performed, and project progress.

When appropriate, we also use 3D walkthrough imaging to provide a more complete record of the property. This can give adjusters a clearer view of conditions without relying only on individual photographs. MSB has worked on thousands of insurance-related losses and understands the importance of creating documentation that clearly supports the work being performed.

To make the insurance process operate smoothly, MSB can be their eyes and ears on the project’s progress. This eases their frequent frustrations of working remotely during the process.

Not everything exposed to smoke or soot automatically needs to be discarded. Contents should be evaluated based on what they are made from, how heavily they were affected, their location within the property, and whether they can be safely and effectively restored.

When needed, MSB can inventory and pack out contents so restoration work can proceed. Restorable belongings may be cleaned, deodorized, stored, and returned after the property is ready. Items such as furniture, clothing, electronics, artwork, documents, and personal possessions may require different cleaning methods, so contents are evaluated individually rather than treated as one category.

When needed, MSB can also provide transportation of your inventoried contents to our Agoura Hills 25,000 Sq. ft. facility that is secured and temperature controlled. This allows you to contact one company for all the phases of your restoration project.

Yes. Smoke and airborne residues can travel far beyond the area where flames were present. They may move through doorways, hallways, open spaces, ventilation pathways, attics, and other areas of the building.

That means a room can appear undamaged while still having residue on walls, ceilings, furnishings, horizontal surfaces, or contents. MSB evaluates the property beyond the visibly burned area to determine how far smoke and soot traveled. This helps establish a cleaning scope based on actual conditions rather than assuming that only rooms near the fire were affected.

During a wildfire event, the amount of contaminants that are burned from building materials, equipment, vehicles, EVs, and so much more float into the air and can wind up in your property. It’s important to have the environmental safety of your property evaluated so the proper cleaning and restoration can be carried out.

They can. Smoke follows air movement and can enter concealed or difficult-to-reach areas such as attics, wall cavities, ceiling spaces, mechanical areas, and HVAC components.

Whether those areas require cleaning depends on the fire, the building, how smoke moved through the property, and the conditions found during inspection. Simply cleaning visible surfaces may not resolve a problem if residues or odor sources remain elsewhere. MSB evaluates both visible and potentially concealed areas so the restoration plan can address the property as a whole rather than just the obvious damage.

The decision depends on the material, the type and severity of contamination, the extent of physical damage, and whether the item can be restored effectively without causing additional damage.

Some surfaces can be successfully cleaned. Others may be permanently damaged by heat, soot, water, or corrosive residues and require removal or replacement. Porous and nonporous materials can also respond very differently to the same fire.

MSB evaluates affected materials individually and develops a scope intended to restore what can reasonably be restored while identifying materials that require replacement. This can also help avoid unnecessary demolition when cleaning is the more appropriate solution.

Yes. MSB is both a restoration company and a licensed building contractor, allowing us to continue from emergency response and mitigation through repairs and reconstruction.

A fire loss can involve board-up, water removal, smoke and soot cleaning, contents handling, demolition, odor treatment, structural repairs, drywall, flooring, cabinetry, finishes, and other construction work. Having one company capable of managing multiple phases can reduce handoffs and help maintain continuity throughout the project.

Our objective is not simply to clean up the damage. It is to help take the property from the initial loss through restoration and, when needed, all the way back to a completed building.

Yes. MSB provides fire and smoke restoration for residential and commercial properties, including large homes, multifamily properties, homeowners associations, offices, and professionally managed buildings.

Larger or more complex losses often require more than cleaning technicians. They may involve property managers, building owners, residents, tenants, insurance professionals, consultants, subcontractors, and construction teams. Communication and project coordination become especially important.

MSB’s experience with both restoration and construction allows us to manage complex projects while keeping the different parties informed and working toward the same objective: protecting the property, completing the necessary work, and returning the building to use.

Yes. A property does not have to experience direct flame damage to be affected by a nearby wildfire. Smoke, ash, soot, and airborne contaminants can settle on exterior surfaces and enter homes through openings, ventilation, normal air movement, and other pathways.

MSB saw this extensively following the Palisades and Eaton fires. Many properties we worked on remained standing but required detailed cleaning of interior and exterior surfaces, contents, and other affected areas.

These projects can be very different from cleaning a single room after a small structure fire because wildfire exposure may affect large portions of the property even though little or no structural fire damage is visible.

A structure fire usually has a relatively identifiable origin and a pattern of heat, smoke, soot, water, and physical damage associated with that event. Wildfire exposure can be much broader. Smoke, ash, and airborne contaminants may affect the exterior and interior of a property even when the building itself never burned.

Following the Palisades and Eaton fires, MSB performed extensive detailed cleaning of high-value homes, including interior and exterior areas. These projects required careful inspection, documentation, cleaning procedures, and significant coordination with homeowners and insurance adjusters.

The scope must be developed from the actual conditions at each property rather than assuming every wildfire-exposed home requires the same treatment.

When a home cannot be restored, the project changes from restoration to demolition and debris removal. The damaged structure and debris must be removed safely and properly so the site can eventually be prepared for reconstruction.

MSB has performed private debris-removal projects following major wildfires, including complete-loss properties. One important consideration is how the debris-removal portion of an insurance policy is used. Depending on the policy and claim, controlling debris-removal costs may preserve some available coverage for debris generated later during reconstruction, such as dumpsters used throughout the building process.

Because policies differ, homeowners should discuss available limits and coverage with their insurance carrier before making decisions based solely on insurance benefits.