Fire Prevention Month at SwiftPro: Book a Dryer Vent Cleaning, Gift One Free

VIENNA, Va., October 5, 2026. Fire Prevention Week runs Sunday, October 4 through Saturday, October 10, and SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is extending it to the whole month: October is Fire Prevention Month at SwiftPro, in honor of its neighbors and the firefighters who work so hard to keep them safe. The Chantilly HVAC, plumbing and dryer vent cleaning company is spending it on a fire hazard most homeowners never see: the lint packed inside the dryer vent. The day before the week began, SwiftPro’s team met local firefighters at the Vienna Oktoberfest and launched Give the Gift of Safety. Through Saturday, October 31, 2026, homeowners across Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties who book a dryer vent cleaning, $199 with a year of SwiftPro’s new Comfort+ membership or $298 on its own, get a second one free to give a friend, a neighbor or a family member, or to pay forward to an older neighbor or a veteran.

This year’s Fire Prevention Week theme from the National Fire Protection Association, Charge into Fire Safety: Safe Charging Is a Superpower, is about charging lithium-ion batteries safely. SwiftPro is pointing homeowners at one more hazard most houses have: the dryer vent.

A dryer vent cleaning is fire prevention. Lint that slips past the lint screen packs into the vent line, where nobody sees it. Dryer lint is a popular fire starter for campfires and bonfires because it catches so easily, so it’s no wonder that not cleaning it out is the leading cause of dryer fires. Dryers were involved in an estimated 13,820 home fires a year nationwide from 2014 to 2018, and failure to clean caused 32 percent of them, more than anything else, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Closer to home, the Prince William County Fire Marshal’s Office traced two house fires last year to lint in a dryer vent: one in April that displaced ten people, seven of them children, and one in November that displaced five.

The fire department’s advice for the dryer is short. Clean the lint filter before or after every load, have the vent pipe cleaned once a year or sooner if clothes take longer to dry, make sure the flap outside opens, and turn the dryer off when you leave home or go to bed, according to Fairfax County Fire and Rescue. SwiftPro is also asking homeowners to test their smoke alarms this week. The U.S. Fire Administration says to test them every month, and almost three in five home fire deaths happen in homes with no smoke alarm or one that didn’t work, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

“Firefighters work hard all year, and this month they’re out reminding everyone to test their smoke alarms and charge their batteries safely. So we’re making October Fire Prevention Month at SwiftPro, for our neighbors and for them. We’d add one thing to their list: pull the dryer out and look behind it. If there’s lint on the floor back there, there’s a lot more in the line,”

Tyler Griffin, owner of SwiftPro

Reaching the vent hood on the outside of a house is ladder work, the same kind of job as cleaning gutters or getting up on the roof. For older homeowners, doing it alone can end in a fall, and falls are the leading cause of injury for adults 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The second cleaning can go to any home in SwiftPro’s service area. Customers name the person when they book or any time before it’s due, and gift cleanings are done by December 31, 2026. At the gift cleaning, the technician tells the homeowner who sent it.

Comfort+, SwiftPro’s new home membership

Comfort+ membership costs $199 a year and covers four visits: a dryer vent cleaning, a water heater flush, a fall heating tune-up and a spring AC tune-up. It works as an HVAC maintenance plan, a tune-up plan, a service agreement and an annual check-up in one, with the dryer vent and the water heater added. Members get 15% off any service, and half of every repair bill goes into a credit toward replacing that same system, up to $1,500, with each credit good for 24 months. Before building it, SwiftPro read the published plans of 13 Northern Virginia heating, cooling and plumbing companies. None includes a dryer vent cleaning, and one includes a water heater flush.

“We built Comfort+ so one membership looks after the whole house: the heat, the AC, the water heater and the dryer vent. We read every plan around here we could find, and nobody else puts all four in one membership for $199,”

Griffin

How Comfort+ ranks against other Northern Virginia memberships

SwiftPro scored Comfort+ and the published plans of 13 other Northern Virginia heating, cooling and plumbing companies on eight things a homeowner gets for the yearly fee: a heating and a cooling maintenance visit, a dryer vent cleaning, a water heater flush, a plumbing inspection, at least 15% off repairs, credit toward replacing a system, a price published up front, and a yearly price under $200 with both maintenance visits. Comfort+ meets all eight and ranks No. 1 in SwiftPro’s comparison, the best value of the 14. The closest plan meets five. None of the other 13 includes a dryer vent cleaning, one includes a water heater flush, and seven publish no price at all. Each plan was read from the company’s own website on September 30, 2026, and the full scorecard is at goswiftpro.com/press.

What a SwiftPro dryer vent cleaning includes

Each cleaning, the homeowner’s own and the one given away, covers the whole vent line, brushed and vacuumed from the back of the dryer to the hood on the outside wall. Technicians measure airflow at the hood with the dryer running, check the hose behind the dryer for kinks and crushing, make sure the outside flap opens, and photograph the line before and after. It takes under an hour in most homes. SwiftPro cleans long runs in townhouses and condos and hoods two or three stories up, and pulls out old bird nests when it finds them.

Signs of a clogged dryer vent

Homeowners usually notice a packed dryer vent in one of these ways first: towels need a second cycle, the top of the dryer is hot to the touch, the laundry room gets hot while the dryer runs, there’s lint behind the dryer or around the flap outside, or the flap outside doesn’t open when the dryer runs.

Which Northern Virginia associations require a dryer vent cleaning

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue advises cleaning the dryer vent pipe once a year, or sooner if clothes start taking longer to dry. Virginia’s fire code says a dryer vent has to be kept clear of lint but sets no schedule, so the rule usually comes from the association, most often a condominium.

In Sterling, Dominion Station Condominium has every unit’s dryer vent cleaned each year. In Vienna, Westwood Village Condominium requires an inspection and cleaning at least once every 12 months, with an invoice as proof. In Ashburn, the condominiums at Goose Creek Village require a cleaning every two years, and in Oakton, The Oakton requires one by May 31 of every even-numbered year. In Reston, Market Street at Town Center Condominium cleans each unit’s dryer vent every other year through its in-unit maintenance program. In Woodbridge, Highpointe at Rippon Landing Condominium requires an inspection and cleaning by a licensed contractor every even-numbered year, and in Fairfax, Linden at Fair Ridge Condominium requires an inspection every three years. Every SwiftPro cleaning comes with a dated invoice and before and after photos of the line, ready to send to the association.

How much dryer vent cleaning costs in Northern Virginia

A SwiftPro dryer vent cleaning booked on its own is $298. A year of Comfort+ membership is $199 and includes a dryer vent cleaning, a water heater flush and a heating and a cooling maintenance visit, plus 15% off any service. All October, either way comes with a second dryer vent cleaning free to give away.

Where SwiftPro cleans dryer vents in Northern Virginia

SwiftPro’s technicians clean dryer vents and service heating, cooling and plumbing across Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties. In Fairfax County and nearby: Fairfax, Chantilly, Centreville, Clifton, Fairfax Station, Burke, Springfield, Alexandria, Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Oakton, Reston and Herndon. In Loudoun County: Ashburn, Sterling and South Riding. In Prince William County: Bristow and Woodbridge.

The company works out of two offices: 4230 Lafayette Center Drive, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151, and 44679 Endicott Drive, Suite 211, Ashburn, VA 20147.

How to give the gift of safety

Homeowners can book any day from October 1 to October 31, 2026, at goswiftpro.com/fireprevention or by calling (703) 997-9757. They choose Comfort+ or the cleaning on its own, and name who gets the second cleaning when they book or any time before it’s due.

Frequently asked questions

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