Your House Is On Fire!!

There is no doubt that a fire can be devastating to anyone involved, even if no-one is injured or killed, and the affects can even extend to people who live adjacent to the blaze, particulalry in this day and age when developers place homes so close together,

Not a scene you want to see in your neighbourhood

There were some recent house fires here in Calgary and the after affect was the subject of a news report, discussing what happens next for the victims. Fortunately, in the case of these fires, there were no injuries or deaths but due to the close proximity of adjacent structures, 4 homes were totally destroyed by the flames, as well as by water and smoke damage associated with fighting the blaze. 

The trauma of seeing your home burn to the ground is terrible and one must be truly thankful that everyone is safe. One can also be thankful if you have proper insurance coverage, as the cost of rebuilding a home and replacing your contents can be staggering. The latter can be a trial unto itself, with issues associated with filing reports and making a claim

Not much is salvageable here except a few items in the china cabinet maybe

After the shock of a devastating fire has subsided, many people are hard pressed to remember all the things they own and harder pressed to put together a list to hand over to their insurer, mostly due to contents and possessions being slowly accumulated over time. Not only is it difficult to remember everything you have owned, but quite often people haven't updated their insurance policies to account for the increase in assets and can find themselves under-insured if their policies are not current with the higher values. 

It's amazing how quickly the cost of replacing contents adds up too. As an example, an individual might own 10 pairs of jeans/trousers, and at a cost of $75.00 per pair you've tally up $750.00 just like that. If you're part of a family, multiply that times the number of people. Now think about all the other clothes and shoes, then add in furniture, the mattress, box spring and bed frame, the dishes, cutlery and pots and pans, the t.v. and video game controller, your tolietries...the list goes on . Again, if you're in a hous,  multiply the costs by the square footage of the home with multiple bedrooms, the living room in addition to the den...again, you get the point. With all of this in mind, even a basic condo or tenant policy needs to have a limit of no less than $40,000.00 for contents.

Of course, proving to your insurance company that you owned all the stuff is another matter. It's way easier to substantiate and settle this business matter when items are properly catalogued, whether that be by keeping receipts, writing out lists, taking photographs and videos, or all these methods. And keeping these records stored in a fireproof safe or somewhere off site, in a safety deposit box at the bank or a family members' home is important. Not much good having a list if that gets destroyed in the fire too!

Bottom line is, do a survey of your home, make a list, take some photos and talk to an insurance broker, even if it's not us at Blue Circle Insurance Brokers. Download Your Personal Items Checklist here.

My son, a Calgary firefighter, says that under the right conditions a fire can double in size every minute!