Imagine as a homeowner and family leaving your home for work and school only to be notified later in the day that your house is on fire. By the time you arrive at your home, the structure is fully involved and the fire department is on scene fighting the fire. Imagine the same scenario as a business owner closing your store at the end of the day or for the weekend and being notified that your business is on fire, with both the above scenarios resulting in a total loss.
The first and most important aspect is that there is no loss of life. Then the shock and devastation sets in. The memories, hard work, sentimental items, everything is gone and possibly all you have left is the clothes on your back. Where do you start?
As much as we do not want to think of such an incident, they occur daily. Let’s review some statistics:
- In 2008 there were 403,000 residential fires (NFPA – National Fire Protection Association)
- Every 5 minutes a business in the U.S. catches fire. 90% suffer catastrophic loss and 40% never recover (NFPA)
- 43% of US companies never reopen after disaster, and 29% more close within 3 years (NFPA)
Here are 5 steps you can take to be prepared:
- Create emergency contact list to include: insurance company (medical policy numbers, home policy number and auto policy number), doctors, utility companies, banks, neighbors, family, etc.
- Document and document some more… create computer file or written sheet of items in each room to include their purchase price, model and serial number.
- Consider having artwork, jewelry and sentimental items appraised. Appraisals speed up the claims process.
- Photograph or video tape each room of the contents. Print hard copy of the pictures to include notes on the item. Provide voice description of contents when video taping. The hard copies/disks should be stored off site.
- Backup files created for all business files with copy maintained off site.
(The Insurance Information Insitute offers free software to help with steps 2, 4 and 5 at www.knowyourstuff.org.)
What to do in the first 24 hours after a fire:
1. Contact local disaster relief services such as American Red Cross or the Salvation Army for immediate needs such as:
- Temporary housing
- Food
- Medicine
- Clothing
- Other essential items
2. Notify of your relocation:
- Insurance agent/company
- Family and friends/business partners
- Mortgage company (inform them of the fire)
- Employer
- Children’s school
- Post office
- Delivery services
- Utility companies
3. Replace important documents:
| Item | Who to Contact |
| Driver's license, auto registration | Department of Motor Vehicles |
| Bank books (checking, savings, etc.) | Your bank, as soon as possible |
| Insurance policies | Your insurance agent |
| Military discharge papers | Department of Veterans Affairs |
| Passports | Passport service |
| Birth, death and marriage certificates | Bureau of Records in the appropriate state |
| Divorce papers | Circuit court where decree was issued |
| Social Security or Medicare cards | Local Social Security office |
| Credit cards | The issuing companies, as soon as possible |
| Titles to deeds | Records department of the locality in which the property is located |
| Stocks and bonds | Issuing company or your broker |
| Wills | Your Lawyer |
| Medical Records | Your Doctor |
| Warranties | Issuing Company |
| Income tax records | IRS center where filed or your accountant |
| Citizenship papers | U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service |
| Mortgage papers | Lending institution |
Sources:
www.NFPA.org