In Madison, commercial fire inspection runs through the City of Madison Fire Department’s fire prevention and code enforcement side — and across Dane County, whichever department covers your address plays the same role: the authority having jurisdiction enforcing NFPA 96 in your kitchen. Exhaust findings are among the most common, most avoidable citations a food operation gets. Here’s how yours becomes a formality.
We’re a local referral service for commercial kitchens. Call or send the form and we’ll connect you with a trained, insured kitchen exhaust cleaning company serving the Madison area — one that cleans the full system to NFPA 96 and leaves the documentation your fire inspector and insurer expect. No charge for the referral.
The sticker: its date against your tier. The file: cleaning documentation — company, dates, areas cleaned and not, technician information, signed certification. The hood and filters: visible grease, filter condition and orientation. The duct and fan: access panels, rooftop unit, grease containment. The suppression system: separate inspection schedule, same visit — keep both sets of tags current.
One folder at the manager’s station, plus a digital copy: every cleaning report in date order, the photos, the sticker history, the suppression tags. The standard requires the documentation itself — a clean system with missing records is still a finding. When the inspector asks, you hand over the folder and go back to prep.
Check the last service date against your tier; if the next cleaning falls inside the window — or the sticker’s already past it — schedule now, not after the visit. Wipe a finger inside the canopy. Look at the filters. Check the roof for grease pooling. Confirm the binder’s complete. A compliant cleaning the week before an inspection isn’t gaming anything; it’s what the schedule is for.
An exhaust citation clears with a full compliant cleaning plus documentation, on a deadline. We’ll connect you with a company that works re-inspection timelines — bring the citation language; it tells the cleaner exactly what the inspector wants to see.
We’re a local referral service for commercial kitchens. Call or send the form and we’ll connect you with a trained, insured kitchen exhaust cleaning company serving the Madison area — one that cleans the full system to NFPA 96 and leaves the documentation your fire inspector and insurer expect. No charge for the referral.
Madison Hood Cleaning — Connecting Madison-area restaurants and commercial kitchens with trained, insured kitchen exhaust cleaning companies.
Serving Madison, Middleton, Fitchburg, Sun Prairie, Verona, Waunakee, Monona, Stoughton, and Dane County.
Cleaning Schedule · Bare-Metal Cleaning · Fire Inspection Prep · Cost · Campus & Institutional · Fire Code Resources · Privacy Policy
Call: (608) 765-5600
Information on this site is general guidance on NFPA 96 and commercial kitchen exhaust maintenance, not a compliance determination for your specific kitchen — your local fire authority makes that call. Madison Hood Cleaning is a referral service and does not itself perform exhaust cleaning, inspection, or certification.