What To Do After a Fire
My heart is so heavy after this weekend. Our neighbors ( and a former listing I sold to them) had a devastating fire on Friday. The source of the fire was a bad power strip and that made me think about all the power strips I have plugged in all over my house. Accidental fires can happen at any time without warning day or night. In my opinion having a fire in your home is on the top 3 worst things that could ever happen to a homeowner.
Recently, I helped the victims of another fire in a nearby city rent a home I had listed and have gotten to know them a little bit better over the last couple of weeks. Ironically, she is renting a few houses down from the house that had the fire in my neighborhood. She watched it happen and experienced the horror all over again as someone else became victim to a fire. Why am I telling you all of this? To discuss some precautions and some great tips I heard and learned over the last 72 hours in case you ever experience a fire in your home.
- Make sure your home is secured if the fire department did not
- Contact the local Red Cross if you are displaced
- Contact you homeowners insurance
- Do Not enter the home until you have been told it is OK to do so
- Attend to family & pets who survived the fire
- Contact utility companies and inform them of the fire
- When you are able take photos of everything in every square inch of your home
- When possible retrieve anything of value or important documents
- Contact your lender
- Find a safe and suitable place to live while your home is being repaired
- Contact credit card companies
- Start the process of replacing important documents
- Save ALL receipts
- Save burnt cash it can be replaced at the Federal Reserve
In the case of our neighbors we have a really good neighborhood of caring people. Many donations of clothing & gift cards came pouring in and a Go Fund Me was set up and raised money right away. The family has so many worries on their mind, 5 children and the loss of a family pet on top of finding a place to live and dealing with the aftermath of a fire. The process of rebuilding will most likely take a year or more. It is important to keep these families in your heart and minds for many months to help them through the long arduous journey or building again.
