A fire restoration technician cleans up structures, systems and contents after a fire: scoping the loss, removing soot and smoke residues, controlling odors, and documenting what was damaged.
The role sits on the field side of restoration companies, alongside water mitigation and contents technicians, and the IICRC standard for the work is ANSI/IICRC S700, the Standard for Professional Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration.
What is a fire restoration technician?
A fire restoration technician is the field tech who cleans up a building after fire and smoke damage.
The same role goes by several names in the trade: fire and smoke restoration technician, fire and smoke damage restoration technician, and fire damage restoration technician.
The core of the job is soot cleanup, residue removal and odor control across the structure, its HVAC system and its contents.
Fire techs work across the industry's employer types — independent restoration companies, franchise locations, and regional or national restorers among them.
The IICRC standard for the work is ANSI/IICRC S700, the Standard for Professional Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration, which IICRC lists in its First Edition, 2025.
IICRC says the standard covers assessing the presence, intensity and boundaries of fire residues and odors in buildings, building systems such as HVAC, and contents, for fires inside the building or in adjoining or nearby buildings.
S700 also draws the edges of the job.
IICRC says it does not comprehensively address reconstruction, wildfires, chemical or industrial fires, or special-requirement buildings such as healthcare facilities and clean rooms.
That draws the practical edge of the role: a fire restoration technician's core scope is cleaning and deodorization, not rebuilding, and the standard is written for fires in and around buildings rather than comprehensively for wildfires or chemical and industrial events.
What does a fire and smoke tech do on a fire loss?
Scoping comes first.
The tech works out how far smoke and soot traveled and what the fire damaged.
IICRC says S700 covers assessing the presence, intensity and boundaries of fire residues and odors across the building, its systems and its contents.
The IICRC's FSRT curriculum names the sequence the course teaches: scoping, mitigation, cleaning, deodorization and documentation of fire- and smoke-damaged structures and contents.
Day to day, that breaks into mitigation work that protects the site from further damage, cleaning soot from surfaces, and running odor-control equipment.
Documentation runs through all of it — the FSRT curriculum lists documentation of fire- and smoke-damaged structures and contents among its subjects.
It even includes subrogation and spoliation, terms from the insurance side of a fire loss.
Belongings are their own workstream: items that can be salvaged may be packed out and cleaned off site, which is the work contents technicians specialize in.
Deodorization is its own body of knowledge at the IICRC: the odor-control curriculum covers olfaction, odor sources, odor-control theory, equipment and chemical options.
How is fire work different from water mitigation work?
Water mitigation is organized around drying.
IICRC lists psychrometry and drying technology as one of the components its S500 water standard describes procedures for, alongside building and material science, equipment and instruments, structural restoration, HVAC restoration and contents.
Fire and smoke work is organized around residue and odor: assessing where fire residues and odors reached, cleaning soot from surfaces, and controlling odor with the equipment and chemical options the OCT curriculum covers.
The two trades sit under different IICRC standards.
Water damage restoration is framed by ANSI/IICRC S500, which IICRC lists in its Fifth Edition, 2021; fire and smoke damage restoration is framed by ANSI/IICRC S700, in its First Edition, 2025.
The overlap is physical.
When a fire was knocked down with hoses or sprinklers, the same loss carries water damage, and the drying work happens alongside soot cleanup.
That overlap shows up in hiring as combined fire and water restoration jobs, where one posting can cover both sides of the trade, and techs cross between them on the same loss.
For a new tech, the practical difference shows up in training.
The entry certifications are separate courses: IICRC's FSRT covers fire and smoke work, and its WRT covers water restoration — and both have no prerequisites.
Techs who stay in the field add certifications on both sides as their company's work demands.
What hazards and PPE come with fire jobs?
Fire losses stack several hazard families onto one site, and the IICRC teaches them as a course of their own.
Its Health and Safety Technician (HST) course runs 2 days and 14 hours and covers OSHA standards, inspections and citations, recordkeeping, PPE, hazard communication, hazardous materials, confined spaces and bloodborne pathogens.
Regulated materials are the fire-specific wrinkle.
The S700 summary says that when regulated hazardous materials are suspected, restorers perform work consistent with the authority having jurisdiction's regulations.
On older structures that can mean asbestos or lead questions in fire debris — areas governed by their own state and federal programs, outside this page's scope.
Odor control carries its own exposure question: ozone.
EPA says high ozone concentrations are sometimes used in unoccupied spaces — for example in fire restoration — with conditions controlled so no person or pet is exposed, and that little is known about the chemical by-products left behind.
OSHA's permissible exposure limit for ozone is 0.1 ppm as an 8-hour time-weighted average, under 29 CFR 1910.1000 Table Z-1.
NIOSH recommends an ozone ceiling of 0.1 ppm, not to be exceeded at any time, and lists 5 ppm as immediately dangerous to life or health.
PPE follows the employer's safety program.
Where respirators are necessary or are required by the employer, OSHA's respiratory protection standard requires a written program with worksite-specific procedures, under 29 CFR 1910.134(c)(1).
Job information, not safety advice
Which certifications help a fire restoration tech? (IICRC FSRT, OCT)
The IICRC — the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification — is a non-profit certification body, founded in 1972, that certifies restoration technicians.
It says it has more than 49,000 active Certified Technicians and more than 6,500 Certified Firms worldwide.
It is a certifying body, not a school: IICRC owns no schools and has no instructors on staff, and it approves independent schools and instructors that meet its criteria.
Becoming certified means attending an IICRC-approved course, passing the written exam and documenting skills in the subject, and the certification belongs to the technician — it stays with you when you change companies.
The fire-side starting credential is the Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration Technician (FSRT).
It has no prerequisites, is offered live-stream and in-person, and runs as a 2-day, 14-hour course not counting exam time, lunch and breaks.
Its curriculum covers scoping, mitigation, cleaning, deodorization, subrogation, spoliation and documentation of fire- and smoke-damaged structures and contents.
The odor-side add-on is the Odor Control Technician (OCT).
It also has no prerequisites, runs 1 day and 7 hours, and covers olfaction, odor sources, odor-control theory, equipment and chemical options.
OCT counts toward both the Master Textile Cleaner and the Master Fire and Smoke Restorer designations, which makes it a natural add for carpet cleaning techs moving into restoration work.
The safety credential is the Health and Safety Technician (HST), required for both the Master Water Restorer and the Master Fire and Smoke Restorer designations.
The Master Fire and Smoke Restorer path runs FSRT + UFT + OCT, at least 12 months certified for the Journeyman Fire and Smoke Restorer step, then HST + CCT (or CCMT) and at least 3 years certified.
UFT, the Upholstery and Fabric Cleaning Technician course, has no prerequisites and runs 2 days and 14 hours.
A certification is an industry credential, not a state license; whether any license applies to a given job depends on the state and the scope of work.
Course formats, exam mechanics and fees change — confirm current details with the IICRC before you book a class.
How do you become a fire restoration tech?
The practical route into fire restoration runs through a restoration company's field crew: you get hired, learn the craft on live losses, and add IICRC-approved courses as the work demands.
Entry requirements are set employer by employer, so read each posting for what that company asks for.
Get hired as a field helper or apprentice
Apply to independent restoration companies, franchise locations and regional or national restorers for helper, apprentice or entry-level technician roles. Each employer sets its own requirements, so read the posting and ask what the company looks for.Learn the fire craft on live losses
Work through real fire losses on a crew: protecting the site, cleaning soot and residues, running odor-control equipment, and writing the documentation the job file runs on.Add the FSRT certification
IICRC's Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration Technician course has no prerequisites, runs 2 days and 14 hours not counting exam time, lunch and breaks, and leads to certification through an approved course, a passed written exam and documented skills.Add the OCT for odor-heavy losses
The Odor Control Technician course runs 1 day and 7 hours, has no prerequisites, and covers odor sources, odor-control theory, equipment and chemical options — the toolkit for the deodorization half of the job.Track toward Master Fire and Smoke Restorer
The Master path combines FSRT, UFT and OCT, adds HST and CCT (or CCMT) after at least 12 months certified, and grants the Master designation at 3 or more years certified.
The FSRT carries the fire curriculum, so it is the certification to schedule first; HST fits when your safety responsibilities grow.
Openings show up across the industry's employer types — independent restoration companies, franchise locations, and regional or national restorers — so browse current fire restoration technician jobs to see what employers ask for before you book training.
Career information, not licensing, legal, insurance, health, safety or tax advice — confirm certification details with the IICRC and any licensing question with the agency that covers the work in your state.