What to do after a house fire: a checklist for the first 30 days

The first 24 hours

1. Make sure everyone, pets included, is safe and has somewhere to sleep tonight. The Red Cross and local emergency services can help with a room, food and medicine.
2. Don't go back inside until the fire department says it's safe. Ask them for the fire report number before they leave.
3. Call your insurer to open a claim. Write down the claim number and the name of everyone you speak to.
4. Ask your insurer whether they want the property boarded up and the utilities shut off, and who arranges it.
5. Tell your mortgage lender. The insurance check for the building often has their name on it too.

If you can't remember who your insurer is, the policy number is often in your email or on your bank statement as a monthly payment.

What to ask your insurer on the first call

• What does my policy cover for the building, my belongings and living costs?
• Can I have an advance for clothes, food and a place to stay?
• When will an adjuster come out, and what do they want to see?
• Is there a deadline for my list of belongings, or for a signed proof of loss?
• Should I keep damaged things until you've seen them?

Ask for the answers by email as well. You'll be tired and the calls run together, and a written answer settles any later disagreement.

Paying for somewhere to stay

Most homeowners and renters policies include additional living expenses, sometimes called loss of use. It pays the extra cost of living away from home while the house can't be lived in: a hotel or rental, meals beyond your usual grocery bill, extra mileage, laundry.

The word that matters is extra. Keep every receipt from the first night on, and keep paying the bills you would have paid anyway, like your mortgage. Check your policy for a dollar limit or a time limit on this cover, and ask your adjuster before signing a long lease. Our guide to loss of use coverage goes through what counts.

Photograph everything before cleanup

Once the fire department lets you in, film and photograph every room before anything is moved, thrown away or cleaned. Open cupboards and closets and film inside them too. Slow, steady video is better than a few quick photos.

Smoke reaches further than flames. Clothes, mattresses, electronics and soft furniture in rooms that look untouched can still be ruined by smoke and soot, so photograph those rooms as well.

Protect what's left

Your policy expects you to stop further damage where you reasonably can: a tarp over a hole in the roof, boards over broken windows, water pumped out. Keep the receipts, because the insurer usually pays for this work. Don't start repairs beyond that until your adjuster has seen the damage.

Take out the things you'll need and that are safe to move: documents, medicines, glasses, phone chargers, keys, jewelry. Note what you took, so it doesn't end up on the list of things lost.

Replace the documents you'll need

Lost papers slow everything else down, so start replacing them in the first week. Most can be requested online or by phone:

• Driver's licenses and passports.
• Birth certificates and Social Security cards.
• Bank cards and checkbooks. Ask your bank to watch the accounts while your mail is disrupted.
• Prescriptions. Your pharmacy can usually transfer or refill them.
• A full copy of your insurance policy, with the declarations page. Your insurer will email it.

Set up mail forwarding to where you're staying, so bills and letters from your insurer reach you.

Days 3 to 30: start the list of what you lost

Once you have a place to stay, start the list of your belongings. It is the document your insurer pays the contents part of the claim from, and it takes longer than people expect. Our guide to the house fire inventory list covers what to write for each item and where to find proof without receipts.

• Go room by room from a sketch of the floor plan.
• Search your email for order confirmations. It's where most of your purchase history is.
• Scroll back through your phone's photos for pictures taken at home.
• Send the expensive things first, and add the rest as you remember them.

What comes off the payment

Two amounts usually come off what you're paid. Your deductible comes off once per claim. And unless your policy pays full replacement cost straight away, the insurer takes off an amount for each item's age at first, then pays the rest once you replace it.

Knowing this early helps you read the first offer without panic. A low first payment is often the age reduction, not a refusal.

Getting help

You don't have to manage the claim alone. A friend can sit in on calls and take notes. Your state's insurance department can answer questions about how claims should be handled. For a large loss, a public adjuster can take the claim on for a share of the settlement.

Where Indemnia helps

Indemnia builds the list of what you lost while you deal with everything else. It finds order confirmations in your email, lists what's in the photos you take of each room, and prices every item at today's cost, ready to send to your adjuster.