In 1968 David R. Johnson Sr. founded a professional carpet and upholstery cleaning business servicing Western New England. After 12 years of continued success and a desire to provide a larger scope of cleaning services to his client base, David founded Western New England Fire Restoration in 1980, and headquartered the company in Holyoke, Massachusetts.


After a year of rigorous face to face sales & marketing and knowledge that a large majority of insurance companies representing Western Mass clients also represented those clients located in The Berkshires; in 1981 the company expanded into The Berkshires. Under the leadership of Founder David R. Johnson Sr. Western New England Fire Restoration continued to grow at an aggressive pace and in 1982 began its expansion into yet another region - New York’s Capital District.

In 1984 with an ever increasing territory, disaster coverage now in two states, and a large majority of that business originating in NY, the decision was made to relocate the company’s headquarters to Albany NY and concentrate on The Capital District and its surrounding counties. It was at this time the company also underwent a name change; Western New England Fire Restoration was now doing business as Professional Fire Restoration Services (PFRS).

Over the next six years, under the leadership of David Johnson Sr., Professional Fire Restoration Services would come to be known as one of the largest cleaning and disaster restoration companies of its kind specializing in fire, smoke and water damage in Upstate New York.

In 1991, continued strong growth lead the companies Founder David R. Johnson Sr. to recruit his son David M. Johnson Jr. (DJ), a recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts, with a BA in Economics, as the companies new Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Over the next 10 years, David and his son DJ would lead Professional Fire Restoration Services in unprecedented, year over year growth, until mid April 2000, when DJ became the new President and owner.

In 2000, Professional Fire Restoration was 1 of 4 finalists for the Siena College Award for Best Run Family Businesses. In 2003, Professional Fire Restoration acquired a local duct cleaning business and in the following years DJ’s profound and unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction have been, and continue to be the driving force behind Professional Fire Restoration’s continued growth and success.

DJ’s father, and the founder of Professional Fire Restoration Services, David R. Johnson, remains an advisor to the company and has been an integral part of its successes.

Professional Fire Restoration has a lot of moving parts, and our office manager of 15 years, Stephanie Mahoney, is the glue that makes the day to day business move smoothly, ensuring our customers satisfaction.