The citations behind everything on this site, so you can check them yourself.
Wisconsin’s fire prevention code, at SPS 314.001(1)(a), adopts NFPA 1, the national Fire Code. NFPA 1’s commercial-cooking chapter requires kitchen exhaust systems to be inspected and cleaned in accordance with NFPA 96 — which is how NFPA 96’s schedule and documentation requirements are required under Wisconsin SPS 314. Your local fire inspector, as the authority having jurisdiction, applies it in your kitchen.
NFPA 96 governs the entire exhaust path for any operation producing grease-laden vapors (Type I hoods): design, suppression, filters, and — in Section 11.4 — inspection and cleaning frequency by cooking volume (monthly solid fuel, quarterly high volume, semi-annual moderate, annual low), plus the requirement that each cleaning be documented and the record kept on premises. Summary on our schedule page; the standard is available from nfpa.org.
NFPA’s Structure Fires in Eating and Drinking Establishments (2017 edition, 2010–2014 data): an average of 7,410 restaurant structure fires a year, 61% involving cooking equipment, with failure to clean a factor in 22%. That 22% is the number this entire subject is about.
Fire inspections and code questions in the city: City of Madison Fire Department — Fire Prevention / Code Enforcement, (608) 266-4420. Outside city limits, your local fire district plays the same role. The cleaning itself: a trained, insured kitchen exhaust cleaning company — we’ll connect you.
Do you know your tier, and is your sticker inside it? Is your binder complete? If either answer is no, the fix is one scheduled visit away.
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.
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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.