A deep clean of commercial kitchen extract systems has been undertaken at 33 sites belonging to West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service.

System Hygienics carried out a wet film thickness test to act as a gauge for measuring the efficiency of the cleaning process, before conducting a thorough manual clean of the fire service’s kitchen extract systems. The company uses a precision gauge which, it says, is capable of measuring grease thickness from 25 to 500 microns and has become the industry standard for determining the accumulation of grease.

System Hygienics identified the existing access points in the kitchen ductwork and, where appropriate, installed additional access doors in order to carry out a deep clean of the entire system.

A spokesperson for West Midlands Fire Service said: “We take fire safety compliance very seriously as responding to fire hazards is our business. The first phase of cleaning is now complete and System Hygienics’ before and after photographic report and certification of cleanliness confirms that cleaning was achieved to an excellent standard.”

Kitchen extract ducting before (left) and after cleaning

Each West Midlands fire station has its own kitchen which provides meals for firefighters. In addition, the headquarters and training centre have large commercial kitchens which provide meals for more than 400 staff.