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Fort Worth Fire Department officers and the Tarrant County Fire Marshal enforce NFPA 96 during every commercial kitchen inspection. When they walk in, they check the entire exhaust system — not just the hood you can see from the line.
Officers check for grease accumulation on the hood canopy, inside the plenum chamber, and throughout the duct runs. In older Near Southside and Magnolia Avenue buildings where kitchens have been retrofitted into existing spaces, duct configurations are often non-standard — inspectors know this and look harder.
A certificate from your last hood cleaning must be physically on-site and available within minutes. It needs to show the service date, scope of cleaning, and the name of the licensed company that performed it. Under the Fort Worth Fire Code, a missing or outdated certificate is a documentable violation — the inspector cannot take your word for it.
Filters must be the correct size for the hood opening with no gaps, properly seated, and in serviceable condition. A common write-up in Fort Worth restaurant kitchens: filters that have been propped at an angle to improve airflow during busy service — inspectors recognize this immediately.
The suppression system must have a current service tag showing inspection within the last six months. An expired tag is one of the most serious violations a Fort Worth inspector can cite — it can result in an immediate closure order until the system is re-certified.
NFPA 96 requires access panels at regular intervals along the ductwork so the full system can be cleaned and inspected. This is especially common as a violation in older Sundance Square and West 7th corridor buildings where duct runs were installed before modern code requirements.
Fort Worth Fire Department inspectors check the rooftop exhaust fan area for grease pooling. In strip centers along the Alliance corridor, Camp Bowie, and Hulen Street, grease can migrate across shared rooflines to neighboring units — a violation that often comes in through a neighbor complaint.
From the steakhouses and brewpubs of Fort Worth’s Near Southside to fast-casual concepts throughout Tarrant County, Kitchen Guard keeps Fort Worth restaurant kitchens NFPA 96 compliant, grease-free, and ready for every fire marshal and health department inspection.
Alliance Corridor, Keller, and Southlake corporate campuses trust Kitchen Guard to keep employee cafeterias NFPA 96 compliant, well-documented, and operating without unplanned downtime.
From Dickies Arena to stadium and arena concession kitchens across DFW, Kitchen Guard provides NFPA 96-certified hood cleaning on a high-volume schedule that works around your event calendar — not against it.
Fort Worth, Mansfield, and Tarrant County healthcare and senior living facilities rely on Kitchen Guard to maintain commercial kitchen exhaust systems to the strictest NFPA 96 safety standards — where compliance is not optional.
Fort Worth ISD, Keller ISD, Mansfield ISD, and universities across DFW trust Kitchen Guard to keep school cafeteria exhaust systems code-compliant, clean, and documented for district and fire authority review.
Whether it’s a full-service hotel restaurant near the Fort Worth Convention Center or a suite-hotel breakfast kitchen, Kitchen Guard delivers NFPA 96-compliant hood cleaning and service documentation built for hospitality property management requirements.
Kitchen fires start in the exhaust system — not on the cook line. That’s why every Kitchen Guard hood cleaning covers the complete system, not just the visible surfaces your staff can see from the floor.
Hood Canopy & Grease Filters: We remove and deep-clean every grease filter and wash the full interior surface of the hood canopy using hot water and food-safe degreasers. The hood is polished and left inspection-ready before we leave.
Plenum Chamber: The plenum — the cavity directly above the filters — accumulates the heaviest grease deposits of any component in the system. We clean it completely on every visit, without exception.
Ductwork from Hood to Rooftop: Grease doesn’t stop at the filters. It coats the interior walls of your ductwork all the way up to the rooftop. Kitchen Guard cleans accessible duct sections and installs access panels where needed to ensure full NFPA 96 compliance.
Exhaust Fan & Rooftop Unit: The rooftop exhaust fan is the most neglected component in commercial kitchen maintenance — and one of the most commonly cited violations by Fort Worth Fire Department inspectors. We clean the fan housing, blades, and surrounding roof area, and inspect belts and hinge kits on every visit.
Our crew arrives with all equipment needed to complete the job — including hot water pressure washers, degreasers, protective coverings, and documentation tools. Every service includes before-and-after photos delivered to your inbox within 24 hours, a signed service report, a dated service sticker, and a technician walkthrough noting any maintenance items flagged.
NFPA 96 sets mandatory cleaning intervals based on cooking volume and equipment type:
Fort Worth Compliance Note: The Fort Worth Fire Department and Tarrant County Fire Marshal enforce NFPA 96 cleaning intervals for all commercial kitchen exhaust systems. Non-compliance can result in failed inspections, insurance claim denials, and forced closures.
The Fort Worth Fire Department and Tarrant County Fire Marshal enforce NFPA 96 cleaning intervals, and they will ask for documentation at every inspection. The right frequency depends on how your kitchen is actually used — not just your restaurant category.
Most full-service restaurants and fast-casual operations in Fort Worth — the brewpubs and bar kitchens in the Near Southside, the lunch spots in Sundance Square, the fast-casual chains along West 7th — run on semi-annual service. But if your kitchen added equipment, expanded hours, or picked up catering volume, your grease load changed and your schedule should have too.
High-volume operations near Dickies Arena and AT&T Stadium, wood-fired or charcoal concepts, and wok-heavy kitchens need monthly service regardless of how busy the calendar looks. A moderately busy concept that added a charbroiler without updating its cleaning schedule is one of the most common compliance gaps Fort Worth inspectors find.
Kitchen Guard assesses your actual equipment, BTU load, and weekly volume — not just your restaurant type — and puts that assessment in writing so you can show any inspector or insurer exactly how your frequency was determined.
Kitchen Guard of Dallas-Fort Worth is hiring skilled hood cleaning technicians, team leads, and Fire & Life Safety Consultants in the Fort Worth and DFW area. Join a growing commercial kitchen cleaning company built on NFPA 96 standards, professional training, and a culture of excellence. We offer competitive pay, hands-on certification, and a clear path for advancement—all while helping keep Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants and commercial kitchens fire safe.
Explore open positions for hood and exhaust cleaning technicians, foremen, and safety consultants in Fort Worth, Haltom City, Benbrook, White Settlement, and Lake Worth, and surrounding Dallas-Fort Worth communities.
Before & After Hood Cleaning Results
