These are photos taken of a restaurant kitchen exhaust hood system in Santa Monica, California.

Notice the areas on the vertical ducts leading to the fans that were missed.

vertical grease duct

vertical grease duct

The accumulation in the lateral grease ducts is proof that parts of these kitchen exhaust systems have been neglected for many years.

lateral grease duct

lateral grease duct

If this restaurant were to have a fire that spread in to these ducts, the grease would most likely catch fire, and could possible spread to the building endangering lives.

It is the responsibility of every restaurant owner or manager to be on top of their hood cleaning company to make sure that partial cleanings like the one in these pictures do not happen.

Make sure your Santa Monica hood cleaning company is taking photos of the work they are doing in your restaurant kitchen exhaust hood system and that they have these photos available for you at any time.