Late summer and early fall are smoke season around Puget Sound. When fires burn in the Cascades, eastern Washington or British Columbia, the haze drifts over King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties, and when a fire is close enough, fine grey ash settles on everything outside. It looks like dust. It behaves differently: it is lighter, it lifts back into the air when you disturb it, and it can irritate skin and lungs. This guide covers the outside of the house and the car. If ash or smoke odor is already inside, see wildfire smoke cleanup.
Before you start: wait for the air, and dress for it
Do not clean while the smoke is still heavy. Check the current air quality for your area through the Washington State Department of Ecology or the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency before you go out. If the air is in the unhealthy range, the ash can wait; you will only be stirring up particles while breathing more of them.
When the air has improved, protect yourself:
- An N95 or P100 respirator that fits snugly. A paper dust mask or cloth mask does not stop fine smoke particles.
- Nitrile or rubber gloves, long sleeves, long pants and closed shoes.
- Safety glasses or goggles, especially when sweeping overhead or rinsing.
- Keep children and pets inside until the outdoor surfaces are cleaned. People with asthma, heart or lung disease, older adults and anyone pregnant should leave the cleanup to someone else.
Change clothes and wash them separately when you are done, and leave your shoes at the door.
Step by step: deck, patio and outdoor furniture
- Lightly mist the ash with a garden hose on a soft spray or a pump sprayer. You want it damp enough to stay put, not soaked. Wet ash turns to slurry and stains wood and concrete.
- Sweep gently with a soft push broom into small piles, or use a shop vacuum fitted with a HEPA filter. A regular shop vacuum without a HEPA filter blows the finest ash straight out of the exhaust.
- Bag the ash in heavy plastic garbage bags, tie them shut, and put them in the garbage cart. Do not put ash in yard waste or compost.
- Wash surfaces with a bucket of water and a mild dish soap, using a soft brush on decking and patio stones and a cloth on furniture. Work from the top of each piece down.
- Rinse onto the lawn or a planting bed, not the driveway or street. In most of the region, storm drains carry water to creeks, lakes and the Sound without treatment, and many cities prohibit washing anything other than clean water into them. Check your city's stormwater rules if you are unsure.
- Wash cushions and outdoor fabrics once on a cold cycle if the care label allows. Hot water can set smoke odor.
- Rinse and wash children's play equipment, pet bowls and the barbecue grill before anyone uses them.
If you grow vegetables, rinse produce thoroughly before eating it and peel root vegetables.
Gutters, roof and siding
Do not climb onto the roof to clear ash. A wet roof covered in fine ash is slippery, and the first good Puget Sound rain will move most of the ash into the gutters anyway. From a ladder set on firm, level ground, or from the ground with a gutter wand, you can:
- Scoop ash and needles out of the gutters into a bag, wearing your respirator and gloves.
- Check that downspouts drain away from the foundation and not straight into the street.
- Rinse siding gently from the top down with a garden hose.
Older houses need extra care. If your home was built before 1978, the exterior paint may contain lead. Pressure washing or scrubbing hard enough to lift flaking paint spreads paint chips into the soil around the house, and that is a separate hazard from the ash. Rinse gently and leave any flaking paint for a contractor certified for lead-safe work.
The car
Ash scratches paint if you wipe it dry, so never brush it off with your hand or a towel.
- Rinse the car with plenty of water to float the ash off.
- Wash with a car-wash soap and a soft mitt, rinsing the mitt often.
- Clear ash from the cowl at the base of the windshield, where the cabin air intake is.
- Replace the cabin air filter if the car sat outside during the smoke; it is usually behind the glove box and the owner's manual shows how.
- Run the air conditioning on recirculate for the first drives.
A commercial car wash is a reasonable alternative, and it keeps the rinse water out of the storm drain.
What it costs
These are typical Puget Sound ranges and vary by store, the size of the property and how much ash fell:
- N95 or P100 respirators: roughly $15 to $40 for a box of N95s; reusable P100 half-masks with cartridges usually $30 to $60.
- A HEPA-filtered shop vacuum: usually $100 to $250, or a HEPA filter for one you own for about $20 to $50.
- Brooms, bags, gloves, soap: usually under $50 in total.
- Cabin air filter for a car: commonly $15 to $50 for the part.
- Professional exterior soft-washing of a house and deck: commonly several hundred dollars to over a thousand, depending on size and access.
- Professional interior wildfire smoke cleaning: varies widely; the smoke damage cleanup cost guide explains what drives the price.
Homeowners policies often treat smoke damage from a wildfire as a covered loss, but policies differ, so ask your agent before assuming anything. Outdoor cleanup on its own rarely reaches a deductible. If you file a covered claim for interior damage and use a restoration contractor, it is $0 upfront on covered claims - insurer billed directly - deductible applies.
When to call a professional
Light ash on outdoor surfaces is a homeowner job. Stop and call for help if:
- Buildings, vehicles or sheds burned nearby. Ash from structures can contain asbestos, lead, metals and residues from burned plastics, and it should not be swept up like dust.
- Ash or soot is inside the house, on sills, floors or around vents, or the furnace filter came out grey.
- There is a smoke odor indoors that airing out does not clear in a day or two. Odor lives in textiles, ducts and insulation; see odor removal.
- The roof, gutters or siding are out of reach without standing on the roof or a tall ladder.
- Anyone in the household has breathing or heart problems and no one else can do the cleanup.
- Clothes, bedding or outdoor fabrics still smell after one cold wash; contents and textile restoration handles those.
Dispatch covers King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties any hour at (844) 543-5757, and the fire claim timeline explains what happens if you file.
