Every summer we watch with gloomy charm as wildfires burn across the western United States. This summer proved to be as bad as it was. Fires in Colorado and other states have consumed wild land and homes with equal levels of ferocity. You may be wondering, “What will I do if I lose my house to a fire? Am I ready?”
Others have said it before, and I will say it again: When disaster strikes, the time to prepare has passed. The best way to recover from a house fire is to prepare for a house fire in advance. Along with security considerations, there are some legal issues to consider. Think about including the following in your preparation:
– Maintain adequate fire hazard insurance on your home and belongings and meet at least annually with your insurance agent to ensure all coverage limits are adequate to provide meaningful coverage should your home need to be replaced or repaired. You should obtain an estimate of the replacement cost of your home from a reputable appraiser or contractor, and ensure that your policy covers 100 percent of the estimated replacement cost. Be aware that replacement costs do not equal your current fair market value, purchase price, or mortgage balance. Check with your attorney or insurance agent if you need help understanding your policy coverage.
– See your attorney regularly to make sure your estate planning documents are up to date. Your family will, trust, power of attorney, living trust, or medical directive can be important after a fire.
– Identify important family items, such as identity documents, inheritance planning documents, insurance documents, official certificates, original deeds and titles, family heirlooms, family photos, journals and scrapbooks. Make a plan to protect these items in the event of a disaster, through the use of safes, fireproof safes, offsite storage, etc. Prioritize which limited items you will take with you during the evacuation. Often your attorney may be willing to keep copies of important documents or small items for you.
– Consider using an online cloud storage service such as Dropbox or Evernote to store scans of key legal documents or papers and copies of important electronic files. Consider using an online backup service such as Mozy or CrashPlan to save important content from your computer’s hard drive.
– Document all valuables with photos and videos. Keep all serial numbers in a safe place and tell your insurance agent so they can be added to your homeowner’s policy.
Even if you are fully prepared for a fire, such losses can still be devastating. What did you do after your house caught fire? You can avoid legal trouble or additional loss by considering the following immediately thereafter:
– Make arrangements to ensure your family’s immediate needs for shelter, food, clothing, medicine and other basic needs will be met. Possible sources of support include extended family and friends, your local church, the Red Cross, and the Salvation Army. In the case of a large-scale evacuation, public officials may be able to advise you on special emergency resources provided by public agencies or charities.
– Contact your agent or insurance company and report the loss. You should also contact at least the following to report a fire, as appropriate: your mortgage company, your employer, your child’s school, the post office, and the utility company. Contact your attorney if you need important papers replaced from their files, if you are having trouble getting your insurance company to respond to your claim, or if any other legal issues arise.
– Follow instructions from local public safety officials regarding the location of the fire. Do not re-enter your home or restart utilities without instructions from public safety officials. If you are evacuated, do not return until authorized to do so by the appropriate officials.
– Do your best to secure the site safely before you leave it unattended, including climbing broken windows and locking doors and gates where possible. “No trespassing” or a similar sign is also recommended. Notify local police if you must leave the site unattended.
– As soon as you can safely do so, try to locate and secure important documents or property that may have survived a fire, such as a fireproof safe.
– Keep all receipts for every money you spend. The receipt provides documentation of your loss for your insurance company and the IRS.
– Do not dispose of damaged property before it is properly inventoried for the purposes of documenting your loss. Before contracting for any disaster recovery services, contact your insurance company first to make sure you meet all the requirements for the costs to be covered by your policy. Document yourself and family members’ time spent on recovery and inventory efforts – most of your time can also be compensated at a rate agreed with your insurance company.
Losing your home is a devastating event, but by preparing in advance and making the right decisions afterwards, you and your family can recover. Additional information and tips on preparing for and recovering from a house fire can be found at http://www.redcross.org, http://www.usfa.fema.gov, and other resources.