evacuees want to know what's covered by fire insurance - Record-Searchlight

Photo by Andreas Fuhrmann

Brad McDonald, of Red Bluff (left), watches his parents, Brook and Linda McDonald, pack belongings Monday at their home on Canyon View Loop in Paynes Creek as the Ponderosa Fire burns in the canyon behind their home off Highway 36. "We're just getting pictures and stuff," Brook McDonald said. "We're just trying to get what we can't replace. If it goes, it goes."

Reader submitted fire photos

Anxious families who have been forced to flee their homes because of the Ponderosa Fire have many questions. Those with homeowners or renters insurance probably wonder just what their policy covers.

"Being forced to evacuate a home is very stressful, and typically most people don't think too clearly during this time," Insurance Information Network of California

spokesman Tully Lehman emailed Monday.

Jeff Avery of State Farm Insurance in Redding spent the weekend and Monday calling his clients who may have been affected by the Ponderosa Fire, which has grown to 16,280 acres and is threatening some 3,500 homes.

More than 2,000 people had been evacuated by Monday afternoon.

Avery also went to the evacuation center at Big League Dreams in Redding on Monday to assist volunteers helping displaced families.

"You go out and see if anybody can help," said Avery, who was one of a handful of area agents who went to Big League Dreams. "Ironically, we are not going to run into any of our policyholders there."

Avery estimated that State Farm agents in the north state have 600 policyholders who live within a 10-mile radius of the fire's epicenter.

Meanwhile, an Allstate Insurance claim adjuster will be at the evacuation center in Redding today to answer questions and assist policyholders, company spokesman Freddy Santos said.

Santos said Monday afternoon the company had not received a lot of calls from clients in the north state displaced by the fire.

Most standard policies have additional living expenses coverage, Avery said.

The coverage gives evacuees the money to cover the cost of a hotel room while they are out of their home.

"It also can cover food costs and clothing as well while under mandatory evacuation order," Lehman said.

Evacuees should keep their receipts to help process their claim.

Typically, additional living expenses "coverage is in the range of 10 (percent) to 20 percent of the homeowner's dwelling coverage," Lehman said. When homeowners return home after the fire, they should make any needed temporary repairs, like broken windows, to their homes and prepare for a visit from their insurance adjuster, Lehman said.

"Preparing for an adjuster simply means making a list of items around the home you want an adjuster to see and making a list of questions to ask about the process as well," Lehman said. Unfortunately, in the wake of a disaster like a wildfire, people trying to make a quick buck will often swoop into the affected area. Lehman said homeowners should always ask for a business card and a state contracting license number from anyone soliciting services.

"Too often people will come in and offer to do the work and either do poor work or simply take the money and not do any work," Lehman said.

Consumers can obtain information about settling disaster insurance claims and preparing a home inventory by visiting the Insurance Information Network of California at www.iinc.org.