[ed. Lots of advice on Reddit for folks affected by fires on the West Coast. I imagine this might be useful for any disaster situation and there are probably handy pamphlets or websites with similar information elsewhere, but nothing like experience. Here's a sampling:]
I don’t know if any Oregon friends will read this but I was just evacuated from my home in California and have some advice and tips I wish I would have known before hand.- fill your gas tank. Make sure it’s at least 3/4 until all fires are extinguished
- pack way more than you think you need- we anticipated 2-3 days but were evacuated for 2 weeks
- make a list of things and keep it by the door. I somehow ran out without my wedding ring and laptop. Also if you have kids, keep a bin of distance learning stuff in your go bag- the sooner you can get them back on a schedule the more safe they feel.
- take a video of all contents in your home- open drawers and closets. Document your refrigerator and freezer contents
- throw away everything in your fridge and freezer and make sure you take out your garbage. Your power will likely be cut if you’re evacuated and it will be a smelly mess when you come back home.
- contact your insurance company now to start your claim. Both home owners and renters usually cover hotel, food, and supplies for two weeks while under mandatory evacuation.
- monitor airb&b - once evacuated they will open emergency housing - email the owners if you have pets- those rules are usually out the window during evacuation orders so don’t be discouraged if it says no pets
- if you can self evacuate EARLY. I do not want to see any Oregon friends waiting in long traffic lines surrounded by fire. Use your instincts and go as soon as you feel it’s necessary don’t wait.
- seal all windows and doors. Put Saran Wrap over any ac units or cracks. This will greatly reduces smoke damage.
- keep a cooler of non perishable snacks and water in your car. My family had to drive to another state because the hotels and shelters were filled because the area was so huge.
- keep all identification and documents in a safe place on you. If your id doesn’t have a current address grab a utility bill you’ll need this for applications to show residency with fema, airb&b etc
- if you can withdraw a bit of cash to keep on hand in a bag- I accidentally got my cards shut off because I didn’t put travel notices on them so my bank thought it might be fraud.
- when you get back home do not sweep or blow the ash. This can create a toxic air quality and can blow hot embers. Instead you want to wet things down and use wet paper towels on surfaces
- upon returning home replace all filters in your home and car
- am easy way to rid your home of smoke is to get box fans, large filters and attach them, then allow them to run non stop while being covered with a wet towel that has liquid fabric softener on it.
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Piggybacking on your post to share this post from /r/bestof from a few years back https://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/43jrp0/former_insurance_claims_adjuster_explains_how_to/Hey OP... I used to be the guy who worked for insurance companies, and determined the value of every little thing in your house. The guy who would go head-to-head with those fire-truck-chasing professional loss adjusters. I may be able to help you not get screwed when filing your claim.
Our goal was to use the information you provided, and give the lowest damn value we can possibly justify for your item.
For instance, if all you say was "toaster" -- we would come up with a cheap-as-fuck $4.88 toaster from Walmart, meant to toast one side of one piece of bread at a time. And we would do that for every thing you have ever owned. We had private master lists of the most commonly used descriptions, and what the cheapest viable replacements were. We also had wholesale pricing on almost everything out there, so really scored cheap prices to quote. To further that example:
- If you said "toaster - $25" , we would have to be within -20% of that... so, we would find something that's pretty much dead-on $20.01.
- If you said "toaster- $200" , we'd kick it back and say NEED MORE INFO, because that's a ridiculous price for a toaster (with no other information given.)
- If you said "toaster, from Walmart" , you're getting that $4.88 one.
- If you said "toaster, from Macys" , you'd be more likely to get a $25-35 one.
- If you said "toaster", and all your other kitchen appliances were Jenn Air / Kitchenaid / etc., you would probably get a matching one.
- If you said "Proctor Silex 42888 2-Slice Toaster from Wamart, $9", you just got yourself $9.
- If you said "High-end Toaster, Stainless Steel, Blue glowing power button" ... you might get $35-50 instead. We had to match all features that were listed.
I remember one specific customer... he had some old, piece of shit projector (from mid-late 90s) that could stream a equally piece of shit consumer camcorder. Worth like $5 at a scrap yard. It had some oddball fucking resolution it could record at, though -- and the guy strongly insisted that we replace with "Like Kind And Quality" (trigger words). Ended up being a $65k replacement, because the only camera on the market happened to be a high-end professional video camera (as in, for shooting actual movies). $65-goddam-thousand-dollars because he knew that loophole, and researched his shit.
Remember to list fucking every -- even the most mundane fucking bullshit you can think of. For example, if I was writing up the shower in my bathroom:
- Designer Shower Curtain - $35
- Matching Shower Curtain Liner for Designer Shower Curtain - $15
- Shower Curtain Rings x20 - $15
- Stainless Steel Soap Dispenser for Shower - $35
- Natural Sponge Loofah - from Whole Foods - $15
- Natural Sponge Loofah for Back - from Whole Foods - $19
- Holder for Loofahs - $20
- Bars of soap - from Lush - $12 each (qty: 4)
- Bath bomb - from Lush - $12
- High end shampoo - from salon - $40
- High end conditioner - from salon - $40
- Refining pore mask - from salon - $55
Most people writing claims for a total loss wouldn't even bother with the shower (it's just some used soap and sponges..) -- and those people would be losing out on $400.
Some things require documentation & ages. If you say "tv - $2,000" -- you're getting a 32" LCD, unless you can provide it was from the last year or two w/ receipts. Hopefully you have a good paper trail from credit/debit card expenditure / product registrations / etc.
If you're missing paper trails for things that were legitimately expensive -- go through every photo you can find that was taken in your house. Any parties you may have thrown, and guests put pics up on Facebook.
Maybe an Imgur photo of your cat, hiding under a coffee table you think you purchased from Restoration Hardware. Like... seriously... come up with any evidence you possibly can, for anything that could possibly be deemed expensive.
The fire-truck chasing loss adjusters are evil sons of bitches, but, they actually do provide some value. You will definitely get more money, even if they take a cut. But all they're really doing, is just nitpicking the ever-living-shit out of everything you possibly owned, and writing them all up "creatively" for the insurance company to process.
Sometimes people would come back to us with "updated* claims. They tried it on their own, and listed stuff like "toaster", "microwave", "tv" .. and weren't happy with what they got back. So they hired a fire-truck chaser, and re-submitted with "more information." I have absolutely seen claims go from under $7k calculated, to over $100k calculated. (It's amazing what can happen when people suddenly "remember" their entire wardrobe came from Nordstrom.)
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