People fleeing the fire had often less than an hour to get themselves and a=
ny valuable possessions into a car and leave their homes to seek shelter. W=
hat needs to be considered is what is lost that is not replaceable and what=
you will need to submit a claim to the insurance company. When you are sub=
mitting claims for losses your insurance agent is out of the loop and you a=
re dealing with an adjuster who is very much an advissary. =0D
=0D
I lost my house in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and this took only 45 se=
conds and it also destroyed my business inventory and all of my possessions=
except for clothing. It took me a year to get a dime from State Farm and t=
hen it was less than 25 cents on the dollar. I would have been in far bette=
r shape financially had my house burned to the ground.=0D
=0D
Fires are much cleaner and unless you are with State Farm or Allstate, who =
both had to pay fines levied by the state insurance commissioner to move mo=
re expediently on claims after the 1991 Berkeley-Oakland fires, you may eve=
ntually get the funds to rebuild your house and your life. Twenty years lat=
er there were many people who still had not received a full settlement from=
these two insurance companies. =0D
=0D
Having offsite records of valuable items and appraisals done of antiques as=
well as any photos or audio recordings if very important, and clearly offs=
ite means in the Cloud or in a bank deposit box and not at a neighbor's hou=
se. =0D
=0D
My homeowner's insurance put the replacement construction costs for my curr=
ent house at $175 a square foot and in my area the actual cost of construct=
ion is over $250 a square foot and that does not include the costs of demol=
ition of the old structure and the dump fees and other costs. I had my poli=
cy adjusted to provide $300 a square foot for reconstruction.
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