Fire, Water and Mold Damage Restoration in Simi Valley

The Woolsey Fire began above Simi Valley. At 2:24 p.m. on November 8, 2018, a brush fire was reported in Woolsey Canyon on the Santa Susana Field Laboratory property, and the first engine on scene came from the Simi Valley station about eight miles away. It burned 96,949 acres before it was contained on November 21.

Less than a year later the city was evacuating again. The Easy Fire started about 6 a.m. on October 30, 2019, near Easy Street and Madera Road at the west end of the valley, at a power line that was still energized during a public safety power shutoff. About 26,000 Ventura County residents were evacuated, the fire burned 1,806 acres, and it almost completely surrounded the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where goats had grazed the brush away from the buildings beforehand. Longtime residents also remember the 2003 Simi Fire, which burned about 108,000 acres across eastern Ventura and western Los Angeles counties and destroyed 37 homes.

Each of those fires left far more homes smoked than burned. Ash settles in attic insulation, in the duct system, behind furniture and in garage storage. Odor that returns on hot afternoons usually means residue is still in the attic or the ducts. We photograph and assess before cleaning, clean the surfaces and the ductwork, and treat odor at its source, and our technicians hold IICRC fire and smoke restoration certification.

The first tract homes in Simi Valley went up in 1957 and 1958, and the housing boom of the 1960s and 1970s took the population to 59,832 by 1970 and 77,500 by 1980. The city incorporated on October 10, 1969. A house from that boom is now more than fifty years old, and its supply lines, drain lines and water heater connections have been working the whole time. Slab leaks, failed shutoff valves under sinks and corroded drain lines are the everyday Simi Valley call.

A slab leak announces itself slowly: a warm spot on the floor, a carpet that feels damp along one wall, a water bill that will not come down. We find the wet area with moisture meters and thermal imaging and document how far it reached before anything is lifted. Fixing the pipe is a plumber's job; drying the slab, the flooring and the walls around it is ours, with readings logged every day.

Portions of Simi Valley were significantly damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and an earthquake is a water event too. Water heaters tip, supply lines pull loose and sprinkler lines break. After any strong shaking, look at the water heater, under every sink and in the garage before you go back to sleep, and shut the main if you find water.

The Arroyo Simi runs the length of the valley, and Ventura County has worked on its channel for decades, including a 2003 project to improve a 1,330-foot reach between Stow Street and Yosemite Avenue for flood protection. The valley's own history lists the flood of 1967. In most storms the risk to a house is closer to home: a yard drain that cannot keep up, a hillside behind the back fence, a garage lower than the street. Water that comes in from outside is contaminated, so it is extracted, the surfaces are cleaned and disinfected, and then the space is dried.

Newer neighborhoods such as Wood Ranch, the city's newest major development, fail in different places: washing machine hoses, upstairs laundry rooms, water heaters in garages and refrigerator lines. Those start as clean water, and catching them the same day keeps the job small. Mold follows water that sits for more than a day or two, and when it is there we work under containment with HEPA filtration and give you a written account of what we found.

Before we arrive, shut off the water at the fixture or the main, keep power off in rooms where water reached outlets, move what you can off the floor, and photograph every wet room. We document the loss, estimate our own scope of work, and can bill your carrier directly for our services; coverage questions belong to your carrier, your agent or a public adjuster you hire. We respond in Simi Valley and anywhere in Los Angeles, Orange County and Riverside around the clock, we work in English and Spanish, and the first inspection is free.