Paradise Fire/Camp Creek Fire 11/08/2018 (Redding, Roseville: loan, how much, lawyer)

[mgforshort]

When it comes to fire fighting I don't know squat. Anyway, my unsolicited take is that we had a 2-hour window to stop the fire, from 6:15 AM until 8:00, and if there had been a major force jumping on it than Paradise would be still there today.

When I first noticed the smoke I checked the Butte County Fire website. They reported a 200 acre fire near Pulga, and claimed that they are working on it. On Google maps, as the crow flies, Pulga is maybe 12 miles from us. Quite a distance, I didn't worry.

Oh boy, was I wrong or what.

PG&E electric company reported a malfunction in a line at 6:15, if I'm correct. That is the same time the fire started. Supposedly a large tree branch broke off and hit a wire, and things went downhill from there, so to speak.

Million Thanks (and reps) to all of the kind members offering sympathy. It feels good to be part of a GREAT bunch of people.

[JGC97]

That's the thing about the fires we're seeing now in the state. Years of drought and overgown vegetation makes for a deadly combination if struck by lightening or power lines falling. That's what I understand the story to be from PG&E. The odd thing is they were going to shut the power off in five counties like they had done two previous times in the last month, due to high winds. I don't know why they didn't do it this time because they were warned with their instruments that there were wind gusts in that area around 50 mph. Had they turned off the juice, you'd still be home in your jammies and slippers. Life sure has a way of turning upside down when you least expect it. God bless those firefighters. While everyone is driving away from the fire, they're driving towards it.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I can respond about dealing with The Hartford. I just had a renters insurance claim with them and they were horrid. Expect to sue them to get what's fair.

I advise you not to stress over that. Just expect it to be what you have to do.

Because of the amount of my claim, I was able to file to sue them in small claims court. At the last minute before our court date, they offered to settle with me for about what I asked them for.

So, from my experience, they don't want to have to pay their lawyers to go to court. Which means, they will settle. But, don't expect them to offer you a fair amount without suing them. Just expect that to be part of the process you have to deal with.

I highly advise you to do all of your communicating with them via email. They will try their best to do everything over the phone.

Part of my lawsuit included subpoening all of the recordings of our telephone conversations. They record all conversations. But, of course, you would still have to rely on them to produce the recordings.

In CA, you need the consent of both parties to record conversations. So, if you do have telephone conversations, tell them that you are recording them before proceeding - and use a separate phone or recorder to record them, while you are on speaker phone. But, it's better to just do everything in writing.

You'll get an email from the adjuster. Just insist on doing everything via email. But, as I say, they will do their utmost to try to do everything over the phone, so there isn't a good record.

No need to panic over this. Just know that you need to do everything in writing, and expect them to give you a horrible offer of settlement, and that they will likely give you a fair settlement - if you sue them. And only if you sue them, from my experience.

So, just factor that in. It's not a huge deal. An attorney can probably get them to include your legal fees in the settlement. So, try to just look at it as a logical process. You file your claim, you do everything in writing via email, they offer you crap, you then hire a lawyer to get them to settle for a better deal than they originally offered.

I don't know if you have the same basic type of insurance I had, but my policy was supposed to be for full replacement of items, but then they tried to tell me that I couldn't get full replacement money from them until I paid out of pocket for everything, and then they would reimburse me. Now, who has enough cash on hand to buy out of pocket before being reimbursed? Right. So, they simply hope nobody will fight them on that. I told them I thought a judge would interpret my full replacement policy the same way I did - that I shouldn't have to have enough cash on hand to buy everything myself, before getting money from them. It's a scam. Don't fall for it. They paid up when I filed a lawsuit.

I'm really sorry you have The Hartford. For what it's worth, I after the fact learned that Farmers has the best rating with the CA Insurance Commissioner website. The Hartford is 48th out of 50 as far as the worst. I made the mistake of trusting AARP. Never again.

So sorry about your problems. Don't let The Hartford royally rip you off, though. Just hire a lawyer to get you a fair settlement.

[mgforshort]

Thanks a lot, NoMoreSnow. I really appreciate it.
When we bought the house in September 2015, the only insurance available was Hartford. Our previous townhouse was insured by State Farm (our agent lived in Paradise) and they turned us down, after 30 years without a single claim.

Our policy limit is I think $ 354 K, the estimated cost of a rebuild, plus the contents separately. I could be happy with the $ 354 K.

Something I forgot. We had to evacuate in October 2017 for a half day, the fire was only 5 miles from our home. At that time we received the reverse 911 call and police officers came to bang on our door, asking us to pack and leave in 45 minutes or less.
Everything went smoothly then and we were allowed back after 10 PM the same day.

This year, we had no warning, when I called the fire hotline, the dispatch said leaving is not required in our "ZONE" but recommended. No one came driving around with the loudspeakers.
There is a AM radio, frequency at 1500 AM, for emergencies. I was listening to it while leaving, but they kept repeating a recorded message with a time stamp of 9:18 AM. As the day went on, I can't recall any newer recordings, zero advice, no updates. I thought the station went up in flames; don't know for sure.

[JGC97]

I wonder if that was due to how quickly the fire spread. Even the man from Cal Fire said it was faster than what's he's seen, ever. I think even they were caught off guard.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by mgforshort

Thanks a lot, NoMoreSnow. I really appreciate it.
When we bought the house in September 2015, the only insurance available was Hartford. Our previous townhouse was insured by State Farm (our agent lived in Paradise) and they turned us down, after 30 years without a single claim.

Our policy limit is I think $ 354 K, the estimated cost of a rebuild, plus the contents separately. I could be happy with the $ 354 K.

Something I forgot. We had to evacuate in October 2017 for a half day, the fire was only 5 miles from our home. At that time we received the reverse 911 call and police officers came to bang on our door, asking us to pack and leave in 45 minutes or less.
Everything went smoothly then and we were allowed back after 10 PM the same day.

This year, we had no warning, when I called the fire hotline, the dispatch said leaving is not required in our "ZONE" but recommended. No one came driving around with the loudspeakers.

How scary. I'm so sorry.

I suggest you start out fighting for more than the $354K. Make them think you're willing to sue. Then, settle for the $354, if you're sure you're okay with that. Just expect them to dink you around. There's a reason they're insuring people that nobody else wants to insure. They don't expect to actually pay out fair settlements.

So, I suggest you don't stress when they dink you around. Just do everything in writing, tell them nope, what they're offering isn't enough. They'll dink you around some more, send your claim to a different person, they'll try to dink you around some more... So, if they don't agree to the $354K (if you're really sure that's enough), then tell them you're going to hire a lawyer to sue them for the whole shebang.

Then hire a lawyer and tell the lawyer the max you're willing to pay him/her to fight it for you. And tell them my story about how they gave me a fair settlement once I filed a lawsuit in small claims for my rental policy.

I'd guess your contents are worth at least $20K. So, if you have to pay a lawyer $2K max to deal with writing a few letters, in order to then "settle" for "just" the $354K for the rebuild, it would be worth it, in my opinion -- just to let someone else deal with them to get you a fair settlement more quickly.

[JGC97]

I think I may be on Camp Fire overload but I can't help reading story after story about human kindness in the midst of adversity. I came across this article about a man named Day Cummings, a driver for Waste Management and a 93-year-old woman from Magalia, Margaret Newsum. Her caregiver was already done with her job at Margaret's home and was even one of the residents who evacuated from Paradise so Margaret was alone. Along came Cummings, in his garbage truck. The story will make you smile, maybe. I think sometimes you have to look for the nuggets of gold in an otherwise muddy river. Anyway, hope those who read it, like it. It's a reminder that human kindness is the greatest gift any of us can give and receive.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbe...ads/ar-BBPyZ0y

[Mike930]

Every time something like this happens, my company asks if we want to donate something from our pay and they’ll match it. They always send it to the Red Cross. I’ve heard so many horror stories about the Red Cross and how they don’t really put the money into the affected area, it gives me pause.

Anyone have any experience with them? Is it better to donate to some of the organizations or sites mentioned in this thread?

[BurntCoffey]

Our policy limit is I think $ 354 K, the estimated cost of a rebuild, plus the contents separately. I could be happy with the $ 354 K.

After the appraisal they’ll subtract the cost of the land from that value plus any replacement cost rider in your policy. Contents are a separate category based on your property value, as are outbuildings/fences etc. You should get a rental allowance as well for 2 years - ALE (assisted living expense.)

This year, we had no warning.

Nor did we... middle of the night I awoke to high winds blowing debris on the roof and smelled smoke. The fire had started the night before in Napa but there was no notice. Same situation as what you just went through... unbelievable how quickly the fire travels, isn’t it?

[49erfan916]

Damn...Thoughts and prayers. This is truly sad.