Hood cleaning

Hood cleaning in California

What California requires of a commercial kitchen, cited to the regulation, and the companies doing the work here.

3 obligations6 cities113 companies

What the law asks of you

State rules first, then the fire-code baseline that most of the country has adopted. Each one cites the regulation it came from.

Fire code

How often it must be inspected

Your hood, grease-removal devices, fans and ducts must be INSPECTED on a schedule set by how you cook: every month if you burn solid fuel, every 3 months for high-volume cooking such as 24-hour operations, charbroiling or wok cooking, every 12 months for low-volume operations such as places of worship, seasonal businesses and senior centres, and every 6 months for everything else. The inspection must be done by a qualified person.

How you cook	Inspect every
Solid fuel — wood, charcoal	1 month
High volume — 24-hour, charbroiling, wok	3 months
Everything else	6 months
Low volume — worship, seasonal, senior centres	12 months

Ask before bookingAsk which interval applies to your kitchen and why. A charbroiler or a wok range puts you on 3 months, not 6.

City of Charleston Fire Marshal's Office, publishing the adopted International Fire Code — 2015 IFC §609.3.3.1 and Table 609.3.3.1, adopted throughout South Carolina on 1 July 2016 Read 12 Sep 2026.

Fire code

Cleaning is triggered by grease, not by the calendar

Cleaning is not on the calendar — it is triggered by what the inspection finds. If the inspection finds grease built up, the system must then be cleaned to the ANSI/IKECA C10 standard. So the interval above buys you an inspection; whether you also buy a clean depends on the grease.

Ask before bookingAsk whether they work to ANSI/IKECA C10 — the code names that standard by name, so it is a fair question and a specific one.

City of Charleston Fire Marshal's Office, publishing the adopted International Fire Code — 2015 IFC §609.3.3.2 — “such components shall be cleaned in accordance with ANSI/IKECA C10” Read 12 Sep 2026.

Fire code

Your records must name a person, not just a company

Records of every inspection and every cleaning must be kept. Each must name the individual AND the company who did the work, describe it, and say when it happened. A dated invoice with only a company name on it does not meet this.

Ask before bookingAsk for a record naming the technician, not just the company. That is what the code asks for and what an inspector will look for.

City of Charleston Fire Marshal's Office, publishing the adopted International Fire Code — 2015 IFC §609.3.3.3 Read 12 Sep 2026.

Cities

Elsewhere in California

66 more companies, in places with too few for a page of their own.

AAA Fire Protection Services

(800) 543-5556

aaafireprotection.com · Union City, CA

Their website says

24-hour or emergency availabilitya licence number, Lic #1135081that it has traded since 1974that it is bondedthat it is licensed

filter exchangefire suppressionhood cleaning

We have not independently confirmed those statements. See where each one came from.