IICRC’s Upcoming Fire Standards to be Focal Point Under New Colorado Fire Restoration Study Law
IMAGE COURTESY OF IICRC
For more than five years, the IICRC and its volunteers have been working diligently to develop two accredited-industry standards: the S700 Standard for Professional Fire Damage Restoration and the S760 Standard for Professional Wildfire Investigations and Restoration of Impacts to Structures, Systems, and Contents. Now the state of Colorado is interested in using these standards in an upcoming study on the remediation of property damaged by fire.
In 2021, a wildfire, colloquially known as the Marshall Fire, ravaged portions of Boulder County in Colorado. Following the fire, many residents were in dire need of fire restoration services. Unfortunately, some of these citizens experienced subpar work from contractors. This led a group of state legislators to put forth HB24-1315.
The bill directs the Division of Insurance to conduct a study regarding the remediation of residential premises that have been damaged from smoke, soot, ash, and other contaminants as a result of a fire. As a part of the study, the Division will be required to consider any existing standards, “including any relevant standards established by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification…” In addition, the bill states that the Division may engage with stakeholders from the restoration and remediation industries in Colorado. The results and recommendations of the study shall be provided to the legislature by January of 2026.
“Federal and state governments have a history of utilizing voluntary consensus-based standards for policy objectives,” said IICRC’s Director of Government Relations Robbie Bradshaw. “We’re glad to see Colorado is looking to IICRC’s standards in this instance.”
The IICRC and its volunteers have been working tirelessly to develop these fire standards for our industry,” said IICRC President/Chairman Carey Vermeulen. “We look forward to working with Colorado’s Division of Insurance and providing the standards to them once they are published.”
To learn more about the upcoming IICRC fire standards, go to https://iicrc.org/iicrcstandards/.
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