Who cleans up the fire messes?

Published 9:24 am Monday, April 6, 2009

ServiceMaster Professionals of Albert Lea has done it all.

Whether that’s carpet cleaning, house-wide cleaning or window cleaning, the company’s employees are up for a challenge.

But what most people may not realize is that the business provides not only traditional cleaning services, but other services, too: smoke, fire and water restoration, along with mold remediation and odor removal.

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Tim Smick, operations manager of the company, said the business has been in Albert Lea for at least 25 years, though he and his partner, Craig Diegnau, bought it two years ago.

In Albert Lea, the office is at 308 W. Front St. There is also an office in Fairmont.

Between the two locations, he said, the company serves probably an 80-mile radius. There are eight full-time employees and 10 part-time employees in Albert Lea.

On Friday, part of the crew was out at the historic Wedge House — owned by Jeff Fjelstad and Dinah DeNamur, just outside of Albert Lea — doing a cleanup of the whole house before the couple moved in.

The previous week, the company helped with cleanup after the Hanson Tire Service fire.

Smick said ServiceMaster employees conducted an initial cleanup of Hanson Tire’s front showroom — cleaning soot off of the walls and the front glass windows — and employees probably will be cleaning out Hanson Tire’s air ducts as well.

In addition to these duties, ServiceMaster employees can help clean up from vandalism, bleach air if there’s odors in a house and perform other specialty cleaning, as they are Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certified, he said.

This past winter, the company dealt with several second-floor bathrooms that had overflowed and leaked down to the main level and basement, he said. When people leave for the winter, they need to turn their water off, he noted.

But no matter what the task is, Smick said his favorite part of the job is looking at a cleaned space and seeing how much it has improved.

“That’s probably the most satisfying when people come in and say it looks great,” Smick said.

ServiceMaster is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is open for emergencies on the weekends.