Advice for Homeowners After a Wildfire: Keep a Diary<br />After damage from a wildfire — or from a flood or any other major disaster — it’s important to take<br />detailed notes to help the insurance claim process go as smoothly, and as swiftly, as possible.<br />After a home is damaged by a wildfire, Ms. Bach said, the owner should keep a journal — any notebook will do —<br />and update it daily, noting the date and time of calls with insurers, adjusters and contractors, and a short summary of what was said.<br />The documents that the insurance institute recommends you take include insurance policies, passports<br />and birth certificates, tax and loan documents, wills and trusts, plans and blueprints of your home, and stock certificates and bonds.<br />“They paid for coverage,” he said, “and they have a right to receive everything they’ve paid for.”<br />Here are some questions and answers about insurance coverage after wildfires:<br />How can I decide what to take during an evacuation?<br />“On a regular basis — at least annually — people should document their possessions and the state of their property,” Mr. Heller said.<br />“Document, document, document,” said Doug Heller, an insurance consultant with the Consumer Federation of America.<br />But the sheer scope of the California disaster — coming soon after major hurricanes in Texas and Florida — will probably mean<br />that insurers and adjusters, who visit properties to assess how much the insurer will pay, will be stretched thin.<br />The last thing on the minds of most people whose homes were devastated by wildfires like those in Northern California may be keeping a journal.
