Indio and the Coachella Valley
Biohazard and crime scene cleanup in Indio, California
After a death, a bad injury or a violent crime at home, nobody expects to be the one left with the room. You don't have to be. Call, say what happened, and you are put in touch with an independent bio hazard cleanup company that works in Indio and the desert cities around it.
Answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Answered day and night
- Independent local companies
- You decide whether to hire
If it happened today
Three things, and none of them is cleaning
- 1
Let the officers finish
Police, and after a death a deputy coroner, decide when the home is yours again. Until they say so, leave the room exactly as it is.
- 2
Shut the door
Keep children and pets away from the room. Don't wipe, bag or throw out anything yourself, however much you want it gone.
- 3
Call when you are ready
Tonight, tomorrow or after the funeral home has been. When the home has been released, phone and describe what you are looking at.
What happened
Find your situation
Each page says what the work involves, what to do first and what to ask. If none fits, call anyway.
Local
Who you will deal with in Indio
The cleanup company comes last. These offices come first, and it helps to know which is which.
- Police
- Inside the city limits, the Indio Police Department responds. Its non-emergency number, (760) 391-4051. Use it to ask whether a home has been released.
- Coroner
- A death that needs a coroner goes to the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner. Its desert office, Coroner Bureau East, is here in Indio at 47-225 Oasis Street, (760) 863-8311.
- Victim compensation
- If a violent crime caused it, the California Victim Compensation Board may repay cleanup in a home or a vehicle. Who pays explains the conditions and where to hand in the forms in Indio.
- Outside the city
- In Coachella, La Quinta, Palm Desert and the unincorporated neighborhoods, Riverside County sheriff's deputies respond instead, and Cathedral City has its own police. The service area page lists who answers where.
The work
What a cleanup company actually does
It is more than cleaning. Blood and other body fluids soak into carpet, pad, mattresses, grout and the floor beneath, so a company takes out what can't be saved, cleans and disinfects what can, and deals with odor at its source. The workers wear protective suits and respirators, and the waste leaves in sealed containers.
California regulates the trade. A business that removes blood and body fluids from the scene of a death or serious injury has to be registered with the state Department of Public Health. Before you agree to anything, ask for the registration, or look it up yourself: how to check a company.
One call
How it works
- 1
You phone
Say what happened in whatever words you have, and where the home or vehicle is.
- 2
A cleanup company answers
An independent business that works in your part of the valley asks a few questions: which rooms, how long ago, whether police have finished.
- 3
They look, then give a price
The company explains what it would do and what it would charge before it starts. The price is theirs to set, not ours.
- 4
You choose
Hire them or don't. The decision stays with you, and so does the timing.
Money
Who pays for it
Usually the owner of the property arranges the work and then looks to an insurer, an estate or a state program to cover it. Homeowner and renter policies sometimes respond to this kind of loss, but every policy is worded differently, so ask your agent before you assume anything.
After a violent crime, California's victim compensation program lists crime scene clean-up among the costs it can repay. It has conditions, and it matters which company you hire. Paying for cleanup sets them out.
Nearby
Not in Indio itself?
Who responds, and which office you ring, changes from one desert city to the next. These pages say how.
CoachellaSheriff's deputies from the Thermal Station, and how long a police report takes.
La QuintaTwo numbers for the police, and arranging cleanup when the owner is away.
Palm DesertThe Palm Desert Station, plus gates, associations and shared walls.
Cathedral CityIts own police department, and a plan for relatives arriving from elsewhere.
Bermuda DunesCounty ground: sheriff's deputies respond, even where the address says Indio.Short answers
Before you call
Do the police or the coroner clean up afterwards?
No. Officers investigate and, after a death, the coroner takes the person into care. What is left in the room is for the owner or the family to deal with, which is why private cleanup companies exist.
Are you the cleanup company?
No. Biohazard Cleanup Indio is a referral service. The companies are independent businesses, and the one you speak with gives its own price and is responsible for its own work.
How soon can someone come?
That depends on the company and on where you are, so ask on the call. Nobody can start until the scene has been released.
Could I clean it myself?
Nothing stops an owner from cleaning their own home. But what shows on the surface is seldom all of it, household products don't reach what has gone under the flooring, and it is a memory most families would rather not have.
Ready when the home has been handed back
There is no rush to phone tonight. Once police or the coroner have released the property, a single call reaches a cleanup company that works in Indio and the neighboring desert cities.
One number, any hour
Describe the room or the vehicle in your own words. An independent cleanup company takes it from there, and hiring it stays your choice.
Call (760) 289-3572Answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Calls may be recorded. Read the referral disclosure and the privacy policy.