Well your detector should go off long before the house is filled with smoke. I guess its a matter of where one lives,but I've got 22 years on a city FD, been to 100's of PD fires. If someone is home and calls when the detector goes off,its seldom( like 90 some % IIRC) the fire becomes more then a one or two roomer where I work. When I read things like 10 minutes is a good responce time, WOW ! fire doubles in size each minute ! you don't have much of a chance from the get go. We pride ourselves on getting a line to the seat of the fire in 4 minutes from dispatch .

I guess its because I've been to a ton of PD fires with at least 20 fatals some I found and pulled out and down ladders, that I've come to realize I don't give a rats A$$ about my deer heads on the wall,photos, my guns ,knives, lap tops ,family items etc. Everyone ones comes out alive is all I care about.
Sure I have things backed up on line, copies of photos and records ins. #'s kept off site etc. and 3 or so fire proof safes ( wife works for worlds first and largest fire proof safe co.) But items matter little , very little.

I can shoot more deer,buy more guns.

Oh an and if you have a fire you need to HIRE your own adjuster, NOT just your insurance co.'s. Believe it or not they will try to pay as little as possible. Have
things cleaned not replaced and so forth. The cost of the guy you hire will be more then made up for.

Great advice, thanks! That's the sort of stuff I love about ETS, the little known tips from people who've been there, done that.

-Blast

Let me clarify. These are volunteer units so there aren't crews at the firehouse waiting to respond. The local crew arrived very quickly but it was still more than 4 minutes (don't know how much longer because I wasn't there) before they arrived. The two other crews came from neighboring towns 3-5 miles away so just travel time takes a little bit.

In a modern frame house (according to the fire marshall) the fire would have been much worse, perhaps a total loss. But the fire was mainly kept between exterior brick and the inside plaster walls. The oak beams burned very hot but slowly. We believe the fire had been burning more than 30 minutes before it was discovered.

Like I said, we got lucky.

I grabbed my computer & my packet of legal documents (both by my bed) on the way out, and so I am now able to take a picture of the burnt out shell of my house and post it to Equipped. Now I can ask you guys for advice on what to do next.

DB

Hijack, public service announcement -

Check your insurance policy now, even if a renter.

If you do not have full replacement cost insurance, you are going to get hosed. For example, the PC I am typing on cost about $800 six months ago. With full replacement, I get the cost of a comparable PC. Without full replacement, I get the depreciated cost of the PC, roughly $400, no kidding.

If you are a renter and don't have insurance, get some. Now. You wanna trust the clown down the way to not start a fire? Thought not.

On a side note, Homeowners/renters does not, will not, has never, covered floods. If you live in a flood plain, get flood insurance. Totally different animal.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion...

I learned from guys on the job who had fires of their own !

Their insurance company said stuff like, "oh you can re-use those rafters" , they were burnt, chared but the insurance company said they were ok to re use. Who would build a house with burnt wood ?? They wanted to pay for carpet cleaning,look you'll never get the smoke smell out, you need new ones.

Fires suck for those who have them. But in my mind and who knows I've never had one of my own,but at 52y/o I could walk away with all gone as long as my wife and 2 college girls were ok .trust me I'd rather not.......

That said back up stuff ! Make copies of family photos, buy some fire safes. if your dad's dog tags and watch are important to you,get a safe deposite box! ( My own case, Dad was a WWII vet who came home after his brother was killed)


Stay Safe !

Public Service Announcement #2

READ your insurance policy!

If your policy doesn't have all the specific coverages right in front, go through the policy and mark the pages with post-it notes that show specific coverages. Are they what you wanted/expected? Do they need to be changed?

JBMat said it right: REPLACEMENT COST (RC) replaces like kind and quality with the same, with no depreciation. ACTUAL CASH VALUE (ACV) is what you get after they deduct age and depreciation. And there's a world of difference between the two. And it's separate, the building is one entity, and the contents are another. You might have RC on the building and ACV on the contents. Is that what you want?

Then read the policy. Yes, it's very dry. Yes, it's boring. Take a pencil and underline everything you specifically think is important, everything you don't understand, everything you would like your insurance company to explain. A different color pencil for each type is good.

There are generally two kinds of insurance customers:
1) The ones who take the insurance company's word on everything (the ins. co. LOVES people like this)
2) The ones that read the policy, ask questions, and know what their options are.

INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE IN THE PREMIUM-COLLECTING BUSINESS, NOT IN THE CLAIM-PAYING BUSINESS.

If your ins. co. adjuster is snotty, stiff-necked, or a jerk, call the company and say you want a different adjuster. You can do this.

Match what the ins. company is telling you against what your ins. policy says. Is it different? Do there seem to be gray areas?

If it appears that they're not living up to the terms of the contract, don't rush to call your attorney. He costs money. Your State Insurance Commission (IC) works for you, for free, and a decision is usually made quite quickly (here in WA, w/in two wks). Without the approval of the IC, your ins co doesn't operate in your state. They tiptoe around the IC and say, "Yes, Sir" a lot. If they PO the IC, they lose their rights to sell insurance in your state, and believe me, this has happened more times than you may think.

If you think your ins. co. isn't playing fair, call the IC. You'll just get a receptionist, so give her the problem within two or three sentences. She will send you a form where you put all the tiny details.

Document EVERYTHING: who you speak to, date/time, the gist of the conversations, etc. Put all this in your complaint to the IC.

THIRDPIG is also correct about ins. co. trying to cut corners at your expense. If they want you to rebuild with damaged parts, your State Building Code will usually forbid it for structural materials. "Let me talk to my attorney about that," is a good stall. Call the Building Code people.

Nothing is engraved in stone until you sign the papers. READ THEM, don't take a verbal explanation and just sign them! Do you see any surprises? Don't sign!

An old friend once said, "Before the Good Faith Laws were put in place, the only difference between an insurance company and the Mafia was that you could trust the Mafia to do as they said, but not the insurance company."

Sue

I have sewer backup and sump pump failure insurance, which is a totally different animal than the National Flood Insurance Program http://www.fema.gov/business/nfip/ . When I had a double(!) sump pump failure and flooded, my insurance company paid up promptly and in full.

And flood insurance changed in 1995, it doesn't matter if your near water or not, it your below a certain elevation you have to have flood insurance. I know it was 1995 because it was right before we bought our house and we ended up having to pay extra for flood insurance because it was 1' below the required elevation. Other houses that were bought and sold on the same street didn't because they were at or above the required elevation.

I volunteer with the Red Cross and turn out every few weeks on a Disaster Action Team primarily for home and apartment fires across the county, after hours and on weekends. Although we show up at the invitation of the FD based on the occupants needing assistance, its a steady business, averaging a call every 30 hours. We offer food, clothing and lodging, in the case of my team at least until the following day or Monday when the local Red Cross office opens and regular client case workers can meet with clients and work out details of additional assistance. All American Red Cross assistance is free, the gift of a generous American Public. There are a few things about home fires that stick out to me after leading about a hundred of these calls:

- Thirdpig is right, if everyone gets out, everything else is gravy. Its when someone doesn't make it out of a fire that things get bad for everyone. Its so involved, I can't even cover it here. Make a plan NOW, practice it, GET OUT. Get everyone out. If that happens, you'll do ok.

- Most folks are in shock, at least for a while. Everything they own has just burned up. They also enter the fire with every foible they had before it - drunk boyfriends, girlfriends on drugs, bad relationships. That complicates a fair number of fire scenes.

- prescription meds. Those can be recovered too, either with a call to a 24 hour pharmacy or a trip to a local ER. Computers are wonderful - there are generally accessible records that can get you your meds. We do alot of medical referrals. Also prescription equipment - nebulizers, CPAP machines and the like.

- Red Cross gets involved on fires mainly with low income clients. They're usually renters. They don't have alot of resources to recover with. The comments from folks who document their losses and know how to deal with insurers are dead on - I wish everyone had insurance. Sadly enough, you would also not believe how many people can't afford insurance, both renters and home owners.

- You would be surprised how many people have insurance and don't remember it, not right away - they're mostly in shock. But when we show up, one of the first questions is on insurance, and suddenly they remember, but they don't have the account number. Sometimes, especially renters, they won't remember the insurer either. In ~100 fire calls I have had one client pull out their insurance paperwork saved from a fire. Its not terribly important to do that, not right away anyhow. Just try to remember the name of your insurer. We carry a list of major insurers and their 24 hour contacts, and whether you remember your account or policy number, don't worry, they can look it up. Contact your insurer first thing. Not only are your recovery expenses covered by them, they'll book your room, show up with a check for immediate expenses - everything that the Red Cross does.

- a fair number of folks come away with their cell phones, but not as many with their charging cords. Not enough, to the point where we've started collecting a box of ad hoc charging cords that we rumble through and donate to folks who need a way to charge their phones. You can always buy one yourself when the stores open, but if you're on the phone with your insurer for a couple hours or with relatives to tell them you're okay, or if you're like me and the phone you saved just doesn't have alot of juice at 2AM. Me, I always buy multiple charging cords for my cell phones, and keep them in my go kit, in my car, at work etc.

- depending on the fire, you'll get a chance to go back inside the residence with a fire fighter escort, and maybe recover your wallets, keys, phones, and a change of clothing. Its a trip of course. If you want to expect to recover something, keep it on the floor. If the fire is hot enough, everything is charred from the waist up. Often though you won't get in, there are enough dangerous gasses built up that they can't let you in.

- boarding up and securing your smoking hull of a house: your insurer will have the name of a company that does this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They'll generally contact them and get them to your fire before daylight, so you won't feel compelled to stay around and guard your belongings. The same thing goes for smoke and water damage (ex. apartments with sprinklers). I could give some names, or so could any fire fighter, but talk to your insurer, they have to pay for it anyway.

- firearms: you'll have to self-evacuate those. I recall a client who pulled a dozen semi-auto rifles out of their front door and put them in their car. If you have a number of firearms, you should also have a plan on where to secure those if your house is no longer viable.

- take care of your kids. Get them out of course, but also take time to talk to them about what happened. At fire scenes most adults congregate in one area and start dealing generally with the process of recovery, kids tend to gather on their own and deal with, well I don't know. Maybe they start rationalizing the fire with other kids. I see them mostly doing kiddish things. If the fire was large and the exit was traumatic, they are mostly still in shock, like the adults. As follow up we see a fair number of PTSD like issues associated with kids afraid to fall asleep, nightmares, being hypersensitive to smoke and flames etc. Its only with a bit more experience that I pay more attention to kids than I did earlier on, but you have to check in with them and talk to them - tell them they did a great thing getting out, that everything is going to be okay. Early intervention seems to help with kids, they're mostly made of rubber and will bounce back given the opportunity.

- a note for renters: even before insurance, the #1 thing I'd look for in a place is overhead sprinklers. Usually this is only on newer construction or if the fire code requires it for multi family units, but the difference in damage and survivability is amazing. My #1 daughter is moving into her first apartment this fall, the only thing I insisted on was sprinklers. I am even putting sprinklers as my #1 home upgrade if I go through with a kitchen remodel.

- turkey fryers, bad idea. In one week I recall 3 fires started by turkey fryers. Its predictable, and doesn't always follow the Thanksgiving season. Turkey fryers and beer is a bad idea too.

- neighbors who care are a beautiful thing. I say that not just because it can save the Red Cross a night or two of lodging, but a neighbor who gets out of their bed at 3am to console you and tell you everything will be alright is the kind of person to keep around. They'll take you in and keep you warm and dry on a cold and rainy night. They'll put your kids back to bed while the fire scene works through the aftermath. They give me a place to work out of the elements too. Take my advice: stop by your neighbors this weekend with a pie or cookies or a couple beers, and have a nice chat. Get to know them. Right away on any fire, I can tell where people have those kinds of close relationships - spare clothing and shoes magically appear from homes and garages, blankets if its cold, everything. It matters not your income. Neighbors can usually out Red Cross the Red Cross.