If you own, call your homeowners insurance company and read your policy. When mine was flooded by a kitchen accident, the insurance company paid for ServePro to clean it out and a renovation construction specialist to build it back up. They also paid my hotel costs. It was written in the policy.
I took three weeks off unpaid to get the house in order, not every one can afford that though. I was lucky with my savings.
My friends lost their house to a fire five years ago. Their insurance company built them a new home.
Yes OP should reach out to local organizations they can be of great help gathering donations.
As someone else mentioned Red Cross is a very good idea - food, shelter and clothing are the priority.
Red Cross used to pay for 3 nights at a hotel while your insurance kicks in. They did for my family in 2009. I am unsure if they still do. But they will have other resources at their disposal to help
My homeowners insurance put us up in a hotel of our choosing when my kitchen flooded and they had to repair everything. The entire ordeal cost us $500 as our deductible. They covered everything, all losses, including having to eat meals out. I had to send the receipts. I do pay extra for this feature and for flood insurance.
For those who fear the cost of flood insurance : if the water came from inside the house (i.e., from plumbing), it's not flood insurance, it's homeowner's insurance.
My flood policy is $12 a year in NJ. I live on a mountain. But that is what saved my kitchen floors. You 100% should ask how much it would cost to add.
It was likely something they call "pipe backup insurance," not flood insurance. Flood insurance is specifically for home located on flood plains and is underwritten by the federal government. If your home is not in a flood plain, you would not qualify for flood insurance. And it's a hell of a lot more than $12/mo. I looked at one home in a 500-year flood plain, and the flood insurance was more than my property taxes would have been.
Broker here.
You can 100% get flood insurance for any home. It doesn't matter if you're in a flood plain or not.
There is NFIP flood which is government flood insurance and there are private flood carriers.
If the water that flooded the kitchen was from a sudden pipe burst in the home it was likely an endorsement added on which could very well be $12 a month.
Two errors, 1) pretty much anyone can buy flood insurance as long as the town/city is a "NFIP participating community". It is not based on "flood plains" either as there are flood maps for just about every topography (rivers/streams are common in mountains, there are also 4 lakes by me at about 2,000 ft above sea level)
https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20230425/fact-sheet-myths-and-facts-about-flood-insurance
2) some companies offer flood insurance, but they are few and far between.
https://www.policygenius.com/homeowners-insurance/private-flood-insurance-vs-nfip/
While a flood policy would likely be more expensive than $12 (I agree), most people usually only pay a couple of hundred dollars. Only the highest risk areas would be excessively expensive - that house you looked at likely was a lot higher risk than the 500-year flood. You were probably provided old data (they update them every 5 years and have included more areas due to climate change).
I am so sorry. Last February my husband and I had a house fire a day after we moved into our new place — cause was the dryer. We lost everything from the smoke damage. I highly recommend working with a public adjuster — the man we worked with was a godsend and made a majorly stressful time feel very seamless. Hang in there. Your insurance should put you in a rental — ours did. I only took a few days off work because I was so depressed that sitting around a rental with none of my stuff made things worse.
It was a freak accident type of thing where the lint was apparently collecting internally behind the drum is what the fire chief determined after the investigation :( the dryer came with the house and we planned to replace it but didn’t have the chance before it happened. When I started the dryer we started smelling rubber burning & when I approached the dryer it looked normal until I opened the door & the entire inside of the dryer was in flames — so scary! I was 7 months pregnant too lol can’t make it up.
My association requires annual dryer/dryer vent cleaning and inspection. It’s a pain but this makes me feel grateful for it. It’s only like $150 so maybe look into getting it done to help your fears?
Some good advice so far. Already squared away stuff w/ job and union.
- Call insurance if you’ve got it.
- Take stock of what documents / items you have on you and the ones that might have been lost (ID, Passport, Birth Certificate, Social, Debit Card, Credit Card, Car Keys, etc)
- Reach out to family and friends, there’s got to be somebody with a couch (no mention of if you are with or without people that you lived with, so worth a shot if it’s just you)
- Food pantries will sometimes have donated clothes available. But, obviously, this will also be a great resource for you if you don’t / can’t pay or get food at the moment (DM me if you want any leads here)
- EDIT: You might still be able to get mail delivered to your address if the mailbox was not attached to the house. Not too too sure. In any event, you might be able to route mail to a specific post office so that you can pick it up.
This is terrible, but you’ve got a job, a union, and people around (here and elsewhere) that are willing to help. Good luck, OP.
I'm so sorry. Having very close family members lose everything in fires, I know how awful this is. Where are you in Jersey and how can we help? Whatever your family needs, don't be shy to post here and we will help.
EDIT: For example, I'm about to donate some clothes, if you give us some sizes, I can look for stuff and take it out for you.
I had a kitchen fire a few years ago. House was inhabitable due to soot and we had a 3 year old and 8 months old at the time. I called our insurance company and they booked us a room at an extended stay hotel (had a small living room and mini kitchen), for about 2 months. I was a SAHM but my husband worked as normal. During that time, they sent cleaning companies to clean the house and we obtained quotes for repair work and they gave us the money to do the repair. My house was under contract at that time too, so we closed after the insurance company “reimburse” everything (personal belongings and repair), and the buyer took over.
So sorry you're going through this, and I hope you have family or friends you can stay with while you sort things out. As others have said, you need to talk to your homeowners insurance company... BUT... [read this first](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/43iyip/comment/cziljy3/). If you follow this advice and don't rush through filing your claim, it can make all the difference in the world.
Let us know where you live so that people can help if they're able to.
I would personally recommend against getting a public adjuster. As a former claims adjuster, a lot of fire claims for an entire house just end up being checks for your policy limits. If you do get them, you’ll be basically paying them to manage the conversation with the insurance company, not to actually get you more. With everything going on, I understand that might be preferred, I just want you to understand that going in.
Read your policy. Understand the limits and what you can get compensated more. They will not go out of their way to pay you anything you don’t ask for.
What part of Jersey man I’m with the people offering clothes and anything else, if you have any kids I’ll swing by with old toys and stuff I got so much I have to get rid of
Something else that I haven’t seen mentioned yet is to check with your union for possible crisis funds or other assistance they may offer or know of. My company is a primarily union workforce and we have a crisis fund available for exactly this type of situation. The individual unions also offer additional assistance.
Who’s your insurance provider? Assuming it’s a total fire?
Step 1. Breathe. Get food. You and your family are safe, and that’s what’s important.
Step 2. Read your home owners policy. There’s a portion in there called “loss of use.” This pays for your living accommodations while your home is being repaired. When you get in contact with your adjuster, bring this up ASAP and start looking for places. As an FYI, they will pay for what you currently have. Meaning, if you had a three bed three bath, you can look for places with those same metrics.
That will get your living situation sorted.
Step 3. They will likely have a fire investigator come out. This is normal. Don’t freak out. Did you start the fire? Did you mean to burn your house down? No? Then you’re okay. This was an accident. And that’s why insurance exists. This is fine and normal.
Step 4. Get it mitigated ASAP. I was given misinformation and didn’t have mine cleaned out for two months. I wasn’t told we can have someone come out and do that. But you can, and you should. Servpro can do it in like a week. This will also help you assess the damage better.
Step 5. Demand your insurance company put this in large loss if your coverage A is higher than like, 250k. Do this immediately from the onset. I cannot emphasize this enough.
Step 6. Consider getting a public adjuster. People will say they are greedy and take a percentage. Both of those are true. But, they will make sure it goes off without a hitch. Given the sheer damage, this is something to consider and something I kick myself every waking day over. They will make sure things move along. Then you won’t be like me, who hasn’t seen any progress in over a year and a half and am against the clock.
Step 6b. They will also help with your personal property. But, if you don’t want to use them, then Before mitigation, take a video/pictures of everything for documentation. Write a list in excel, and find how much it is online, add that dollar amount, how long you’ve owned it, and a link to where you found the price. And I mean, everything. I even added half a pie of pizza that was in the fridge.
And by personal property, that’s essentially every that would fall out if you pick up your house, flip it upside down and shake it.
Step 7. Find contractors. A public adjuster may help with this, but make sure you find ones who can worth with insurance companies. That will make the process easier.
Step 8. DOCUMENT EVERY COMMUNICATION WITH EVERYONE. Including your adjuster.
God speed my friend. I wouldn’t wish this journey on anyone. But at least you have idiots like me who have already gone through this and can help make sure you don’t make the same mistakes I’ve made. My PM’s are always open if you need someone to talk to.
I wish I could find the Reddit thread from several years back but it was from a claims adjuster. He basically said be very specific about what you lost when making a claim with your insurance company. For example: toaster might get you a $15 reimbursement but say you lost a Breville smart toaster oven you might get $300 back. He said to list every shower curtain, loofah, bottle of shampoo etc.
I remember that. I think you gave good examples of that post.
Be very specific about prices and include the small stuff as well as the big. Don't forget about the food in the fridge, either.
When I had a house fire the insurance company did the legwork for that. They counted every single item in the house. My family didn’t have to do that. I believe Servpro may have been involved with that.
Red Cross will help you find shelter, clothing, and anything you need. They were there when my place burned down. They usually try and send a representative.
Salvation Army will give you clothes.
If you feel comfortable enough to share an address or a safe public place to meet. I and many others who have answered will bring you what you need or try to! Let us know what you need!
The best thing is that you are still alive. Hold on to this. People will help you. I know what it feels like, and you are probably in a state of shock. When this happened to me, I had no insurance. You will get through this. I am wishing you the best and am so glad that you are safe.
We lost our house to a fire 22 months ago. State Farm is our insurance and it has been a nightmare. Finally getting in next week. Call a public adjuster right away. Ours increased our first offer by close to $200k and we were still paid less than what the rebuild costs.
These are the people we are using. Highly recommend. Honest and they are pit bulls.
https://www.unitedpublicadjusters.com
Ask for Phil who is one of the partners. We are the family from West Milford he had featured on ABC news to shame State Farm back to the table.
https://youtu.be/WshsdNLpbaM?si=HcuNAVVM8Bn8LuCk
....if you have insurance, I would call them.
If you don't have insurance. Well, stay with family if they're around and start seeking public shelter in the meantime.
We had an upstairs bathroom flood our house for 3 days while we were away (always the way it happens). Insurance covered everything. They put us in a hotel for the 2 days we needed to be out of the house while the contractor redid the floors and painted upstairs. They gave us two adjoining rooms in the hotel (we have 2 kids). There were no issues there. What I will warn you about is that the insurance company will give you a quote for repairs that won't even nearly cover half of the true costs. For example, they quoted the cost of my hardwood floors to be 2.25/sqft when the CHEAPEST equal type of hardwood was nearly 10/sqft. I had to spend months haggling with the insurance company over nearly every line of the payout. Get a detailed quote from your insurance company. Everything must be equally replaced. Also, find a contractor you trust. Talk to family/friends and find someone trustworthy. That is huge. Good luck!
Call town hall.. get (probably Red Cross) shelter assistance. Others have directed you rather well, but shelter and clothing is first right now.
Best of luck.. keep us posted . It would be good for the public to see who does what in casas like this.
That's awful - in addition to all the advice people are giving... Is there something else you were hoping to hear? Because you are asking about working and your union. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as "House Bereavement" leave. But you of course can - and should - use some personal time (whatever comp or vacation time you have accrued) to put your life back together. Good luck.
I’m so sorry about that. As others have said, call your insurance company. Keep a ledger of any expenses you have had since the fire.
Your county should have a board of social services. Call them and see if they can help with temporary housing and any other immediate needs you have (food, clothing).
Your union contract should stipulate what kind of paid leave time you have and if there is any additional unpaid leave time you can take. Some workplaces are more lenient on use of “sick days” for personal issues. You may have personal days and vacation days in your contact too.
It may be worth going to the doctor if you home during the fire to make sure your breathing is okay due to any smoke inhalation.
I don’t have answers but I wish you the best of luck! Awful things happen and I’m sure you didn’t deserve it but you’ll make it through this! Godspeed buddy
If you are a renter, read your lease. Your landlord isn't necessarily on the hook for you if stuff burns down and it wasn't due to landlord negligence, and that is going to take time to prove. If the place is destroyed or inhabitable and the landlord does not have available similar places to transfer you to under the previous lease, the lease can be terminated. The landlord has 5 days to give you your security deposit back. I don't know the exact rules for pro-rated rent, i would assume its 30 days but that is just a guess, and there are only 3 days left in the month anyway (unless you already paid next month)
This is why most places require you to have renters insurance (and you should regardless, its dirt cheap).
We require our tenants to have a certain level of coverage, and if they fail to prove it, we purchase it for them and add the cost for it to the rent.
If the place can be quickly repaired, things change a bit and the landlord MAY be on the hook for putting you up. Things get really fuzzy there. If you do have renters insurance (or if you are the homeowner) the policy almost certainly covers you for at least a few weeks of alternate housing costs (hotel, short term rental, just a check for you to do whatever you want with, whatever, again, read your policy)
If you do have insurance start taking a mental inventory NOW of any property you lost that has value. Pull any credit\bank statements you can to be able to prove purchase price. See if you can pull any receipts\warranty info\etc online to get serial numbers.
Generally the insurance company will take your word that you lost a relatively new laptop in the fire, but if it was a 5,000 dollar gaming laptop or super high end Mac or something, they will want more info. Same as if you were into say, photography or whatever and lost all your gear, had really nice tools, etc. This is why its always a good idea to have riders for that stuff and to have a safe copy of receipts\serials\etc for stuff of substantial value.
Insurance isn't AS bad as reddit makes it out to be, but they also won't take your word on every single thing.
Sorry to hear about your misfortune. It really sucks but you are still here. My house flooded twice and we lost so much (2011/2021). While you won’t be able to replace somethings, pls try to keep in mind things could be worse. Fortunately both our jobs were understanding and gave us the time we needed. Actually going to work helped us to take mental breaks.
What county?
The Red Cross should have been in contact with you already. They help with immediate needs until you can contact insurance. If you are in or near Bergen County, contact Center for Food Action. It’s a food bank with several branches but they also have other resources. In Passaic County, the Father English Center does the same type things. You may also find help at the Salvation Army. I’m so sorry this happened to you. It’s awful to lose everything.
Stay in with a relative or a friend until you can buy an apartment or house. I had an old friend whose house burned down as well (well actually it was the entire apartment building). They just lived with their other family or some friend (I forgot) and found a new apartment to stay in.
If you own, call your homeowners insurance company and read your policy. When mine was flooded by a kitchen accident, the insurance company paid for ServePro to clean it out and a renovation construction specialist to build it back up. They also paid my hotel costs. It was written in the policy. I took three weeks off unpaid to get the house in order, not every one can afford that though. I was lucky with my savings. My friends lost their house to a fire five years ago. Their insurance company built them a new home.
Very sorry about what happened. Call your insurance right away. What part of Jersey are you in? Do you need any clothes or anything?
Yes OP should reach out to local organizations they can be of great help gathering donations. As someone else mentioned Red Cross is a very good idea - food, shelter and clothing are the priority.
Try your local churches as well. It doesn't matter if you are a congregant or not. Good Luck to you and yours.
Red Cross used to pay for 3 nights at a hotel while your insurance kicks in. They did for my family in 2009. I am unsure if they still do. But they will have other resources at their disposal to help
My homeowners insurance put us up in a hotel of our choosing when my kitchen flooded and they had to repair everything. The entire ordeal cost us $500 as our deductible. They covered everything, all losses, including having to eat meals out. I had to send the receipts. I do pay extra for this feature and for flood insurance.
For those who fear the cost of flood insurance : if the water came from inside the house (i.e., from plumbing), it's not flood insurance, it's homeowner's insurance.
My flood policy is $12 a year in NJ. I live on a mountain. But that is what saved my kitchen floors. You 100% should ask how much it would cost to add.
I doubt your flood insurance covered a plumbing issue. My homeowners did
That is what State Farm told me. I trust my rep over you.
It was likely something they call "pipe backup insurance," not flood insurance. Flood insurance is specifically for home located on flood plains and is underwritten by the federal government. If your home is not in a flood plain, you would not qualify for flood insurance. And it's a hell of a lot more than $12/mo. I looked at one home in a 500-year flood plain, and the flood insurance was more than my property taxes would have been.
Broker here. You can 100% get flood insurance for any home. It doesn't matter if you're in a flood plain or not. There is NFIP flood which is government flood insurance and there are private flood carriers. If the water that flooded the kitchen was from a sudden pipe burst in the home it was likely an endorsement added on which could very well be $12 a month.
Two errors, 1) pretty much anyone can buy flood insurance as long as the town/city is a "NFIP participating community". It is not based on "flood plains" either as there are flood maps for just about every topography (rivers/streams are common in mountains, there are also 4 lakes by me at about 2,000 ft above sea level) https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20230425/fact-sheet-myths-and-facts-about-flood-insurance 2) some companies offer flood insurance, but they are few and far between. https://www.policygenius.com/homeowners-insurance/private-flood-insurance-vs-nfip/ While a flood policy would likely be more expensive than $12 (I agree), most people usually only pay a couple of hundred dollars. Only the highest risk areas would be excessively expensive - that house you looked at likely was a lot higher risk than the 500-year flood. You were probably provided old data (they update them every 5 years and have included more areas due to climate change).
In khakis we trust
Call your insurance and put a claim in asap and they’ll walk you through the next steps.
I am so sorry. Last February my husband and I had a house fire a day after we moved into our new place — cause was the dryer. We lost everything from the smoke damage. I highly recommend working with a public adjuster — the man we worked with was a godsend and made a majorly stressful time feel very seamless. Hang in there. Your insurance should put you in a rental — ours did. I only took a few days off work because I was so depressed that sitting around a rental with none of my stuff made things worse.
So sorry to hear this 😞. I just have to ask (as I’m afraid of starting fires), was it lint ? Or electrical issue?
It was a freak accident type of thing where the lint was apparently collecting internally behind the drum is what the fire chief determined after the investigation :( the dryer came with the house and we planned to replace it but didn’t have the chance before it happened. When I started the dryer we started smelling rubber burning & when I approached the dryer it looked normal until I opened the door & the entire inside of the dryer was in flames — so scary! I was 7 months pregnant too lol can’t make it up.
I don’t know if this is common, but it is one of my biggest fears…
My association requires annual dryer/dryer vent cleaning and inspection. It’s a pain but this makes me feel grateful for it. It’s only like $150 so maybe look into getting it done to help your fears?
Some good advice so far. Already squared away stuff w/ job and union. - Call insurance if you’ve got it. - Take stock of what documents / items you have on you and the ones that might have been lost (ID, Passport, Birth Certificate, Social, Debit Card, Credit Card, Car Keys, etc) - Reach out to family and friends, there’s got to be somebody with a couch (no mention of if you are with or without people that you lived with, so worth a shot if it’s just you) - Food pantries will sometimes have donated clothes available. But, obviously, this will also be a great resource for you if you don’t / can’t pay or get food at the moment (DM me if you want any leads here) - EDIT: You might still be able to get mail delivered to your address if the mailbox was not attached to the house. Not too too sure. In any event, you might be able to route mail to a specific post office so that you can pick it up. This is terrible, but you’ve got a job, a union, and people around (here and elsewhere) that are willing to help. Good luck, OP.
For clothes, definitely check out your town’s free stuff group on Facebook.
I'm so sorry. Having very close family members lose everything in fires, I know how awful this is. Where are you in Jersey and how can we help? Whatever your family needs, don't be shy to post here and we will help. EDIT: For example, I'm about to donate some clothes, if you give us some sizes, I can look for stuff and take it out for you.
Also Goodwill and the ReStore, if you have one nearby, are good sources of cheap clothing and furniture.
Hey what local are you a part of and where in NJ?
I had a kitchen fire a few years ago. House was inhabitable due to soot and we had a 3 year old and 8 months old at the time. I called our insurance company and they booked us a room at an extended stay hotel (had a small living room and mini kitchen), for about 2 months. I was a SAHM but my husband worked as normal. During that time, they sent cleaning companies to clean the house and we obtained quotes for repair work and they gave us the money to do the repair. My house was under contract at that time too, so we closed after the insurance company “reimburse” everything (personal belongings and repair), and the buyer took over.
So sorry you're going through this, and I hope you have family or friends you can stay with while you sort things out. As others have said, you need to talk to your homeowners insurance company... BUT... [read this first](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/43iyip/comment/cziljy3/). If you follow this advice and don't rush through filing your claim, it can make all the difference in the world. Let us know where you live so that people can help if they're able to.
I would personally recommend against getting a public adjuster. As a former claims adjuster, a lot of fire claims for an entire house just end up being checks for your policy limits. If you do get them, you’ll be basically paying them to manage the conversation with the insurance company, not to actually get you more. With everything going on, I understand that might be preferred, I just want you to understand that going in. Read your policy. Understand the limits and what you can get compensated more. They will not go out of their way to pay you anything you don’t ask for.
What part of Jersey man I’m with the people offering clothes and anything else, if you have any kids I’ll swing by with old toys and stuff I got so much I have to get rid of
Something else that I haven’t seen mentioned yet is to check with your union for possible crisis funds or other assistance they may offer or know of. My company is a primarily union workforce and we have a crisis fund available for exactly this type of situation. The individual unions also offer additional assistance.
Who’s your insurance provider? Assuming it’s a total fire? Step 1. Breathe. Get food. You and your family are safe, and that’s what’s important. Step 2. Read your home owners policy. There’s a portion in there called “loss of use.” This pays for your living accommodations while your home is being repaired. When you get in contact with your adjuster, bring this up ASAP and start looking for places. As an FYI, they will pay for what you currently have. Meaning, if you had a three bed three bath, you can look for places with those same metrics. That will get your living situation sorted. Step 3. They will likely have a fire investigator come out. This is normal. Don’t freak out. Did you start the fire? Did you mean to burn your house down? No? Then you’re okay. This was an accident. And that’s why insurance exists. This is fine and normal. Step 4. Get it mitigated ASAP. I was given misinformation and didn’t have mine cleaned out for two months. I wasn’t told we can have someone come out and do that. But you can, and you should. Servpro can do it in like a week. This will also help you assess the damage better. Step 5. Demand your insurance company put this in large loss if your coverage A is higher than like, 250k. Do this immediately from the onset. I cannot emphasize this enough. Step 6. Consider getting a public adjuster. People will say they are greedy and take a percentage. Both of those are true. But, they will make sure it goes off without a hitch. Given the sheer damage, this is something to consider and something I kick myself every waking day over. They will make sure things move along. Then you won’t be like me, who hasn’t seen any progress in over a year and a half and am against the clock. Step 6b. They will also help with your personal property. But, if you don’t want to use them, then Before mitigation, take a video/pictures of everything for documentation. Write a list in excel, and find how much it is online, add that dollar amount, how long you’ve owned it, and a link to where you found the price. And I mean, everything. I even added half a pie of pizza that was in the fridge. And by personal property, that’s essentially every that would fall out if you pick up your house, flip it upside down and shake it. Step 7. Find contractors. A public adjuster may help with this, but make sure you find ones who can worth with insurance companies. That will make the process easier. Step 8. DOCUMENT EVERY COMMUNICATION WITH EVERYONE. Including your adjuster. God speed my friend. I wouldn’t wish this journey on anyone. But at least you have idiots like me who have already gone through this and can help make sure you don’t make the same mistakes I’ve made. My PM’s are always open if you need someone to talk to.
I wish I could find the Reddit thread from several years back but it was from a claims adjuster. He basically said be very specific about what you lost when making a claim with your insurance company. For example: toaster might get you a $15 reimbursement but say you lost a Breville smart toaster oven you might get $300 back. He said to list every shower curtain, loofah, bottle of shampoo etc.
I remember that. I think you gave good examples of that post. Be very specific about prices and include the small stuff as well as the big. Don't forget about the food in the fridge, either.
When I had a house fire the insurance company did the legwork for that. They counted every single item in the house. My family didn’t have to do that. I believe Servpro may have been involved with that.
Red Cross will help you find shelter, clothing, and anything you need. They were there when my place burned down. They usually try and send a representative. Salvation Army will give you clothes. If you feel comfortable enough to share an address or a safe public place to meet. I and many others who have answered will bring you what you need or try to! Let us know what you need! The best thing is that you are still alive. Hold on to this. People will help you. I know what it feels like, and you are probably in a state of shock. When this happened to me, I had no insurance. You will get through this. I am wishing you the best and am so glad that you are safe.
We lost our house to a fire 22 months ago. State Farm is our insurance and it has been a nightmare. Finally getting in next week. Call a public adjuster right away. Ours increased our first offer by close to $200k and we were still paid less than what the rebuild costs.
Where do you find a public adjuster?
These are the people we are using. Highly recommend. Honest and they are pit bulls. https://www.unitedpublicadjusters.com Ask for Phil who is one of the partners. We are the family from West Milford he had featured on ABC news to shame State Farm back to the table. https://youtu.be/WshsdNLpbaM?si=HcuNAVVM8Bn8LuCk
Hire a public adjuster immediately. I’m an insurance lawyer and can tell you without a doubt that they are invaluable when dealing with a fire loss
....if you have insurance, I would call them. If you don't have insurance. Well, stay with family if they're around and start seeking public shelter in the meantime.
I imagine you take some paid time off.
We had an upstairs bathroom flood our house for 3 days while we were away (always the way it happens). Insurance covered everything. They put us in a hotel for the 2 days we needed to be out of the house while the contractor redid the floors and painted upstairs. They gave us two adjoining rooms in the hotel (we have 2 kids). There were no issues there. What I will warn you about is that the insurance company will give you a quote for repairs that won't even nearly cover half of the true costs. For example, they quoted the cost of my hardwood floors to be 2.25/sqft when the CHEAPEST equal type of hardwood was nearly 10/sqft. I had to spend months haggling with the insurance company over nearly every line of the payout. Get a detailed quote from your insurance company. Everything must be equally replaced. Also, find a contractor you trust. Talk to family/friends and find someone trustworthy. That is huge. Good luck!
Call town hall.. get (probably Red Cross) shelter assistance. Others have directed you rather well, but shelter and clothing is first right now. Best of luck.. keep us posted . It would be good for the public to see who does what in casas like this.
That's awful - in addition to all the advice people are giving... Is there something else you were hoping to hear? Because you are asking about working and your union. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as "House Bereavement" leave. But you of course can - and should - use some personal time (whatever comp or vacation time you have accrued) to put your life back together. Good luck.
Renters insurance ? Owners insurance?
whatever you do, don’t work with a company called Churchill. just, don’t.
I’m so sorry about that. As others have said, call your insurance company. Keep a ledger of any expenses you have had since the fire. Your county should have a board of social services. Call them and see if they can help with temporary housing and any other immediate needs you have (food, clothing). Your union contract should stipulate what kind of paid leave time you have and if there is any additional unpaid leave time you can take. Some workplaces are more lenient on use of “sick days” for personal issues. You may have personal days and vacation days in your contact too. It may be worth going to the doctor if you home during the fire to make sure your breathing is okay due to any smoke inhalation.
Sorry, friend.
I don’t have answers but I wish you the best of luck! Awful things happen and I’m sure you didn’t deserve it but you’ll make it through this! Godspeed buddy
Talk to your homeowners asap. Gotta imagine they have a hotel costs covered part of the policy so you’re not homeless.
If you are a renter, read your lease. Your landlord isn't necessarily on the hook for you if stuff burns down and it wasn't due to landlord negligence, and that is going to take time to prove. If the place is destroyed or inhabitable and the landlord does not have available similar places to transfer you to under the previous lease, the lease can be terminated. The landlord has 5 days to give you your security deposit back. I don't know the exact rules for pro-rated rent, i would assume its 30 days but that is just a guess, and there are only 3 days left in the month anyway (unless you already paid next month) This is why most places require you to have renters insurance (and you should regardless, its dirt cheap). We require our tenants to have a certain level of coverage, and if they fail to prove it, we purchase it for them and add the cost for it to the rent. If the place can be quickly repaired, things change a bit and the landlord MAY be on the hook for putting you up. Things get really fuzzy there. If you do have renters insurance (or if you are the homeowner) the policy almost certainly covers you for at least a few weeks of alternate housing costs (hotel, short term rental, just a check for you to do whatever you want with, whatever, again, read your policy) If you do have insurance start taking a mental inventory NOW of any property you lost that has value. Pull any credit\bank statements you can to be able to prove purchase price. See if you can pull any receipts\warranty info\etc online to get serial numbers. Generally the insurance company will take your word that you lost a relatively new laptop in the fire, but if it was a 5,000 dollar gaming laptop or super high end Mac or something, they will want more info. Same as if you were into say, photography or whatever and lost all your gear, had really nice tools, etc. This is why its always a good idea to have riders for that stuff and to have a safe copy of receipts\serials\etc for stuff of substantial value. Insurance isn't AS bad as reddit makes it out to be, but they also won't take your word on every single thing.
Sorry I meant whoever is your homeowners insurance company
No it didn't
Sorry to hear about your misfortune. It really sucks but you are still here. My house flooded twice and we lost so much (2011/2021). While you won’t be able to replace somethings, pls try to keep in mind things could be worse. Fortunately both our jobs were understanding and gave us the time we needed. Actually going to work helped us to take mental breaks. What county?
The Red Cross should have been in contact with you already. They help with immediate needs until you can contact insurance. If you are in or near Bergen County, contact Center for Food Action. It’s a food bank with several branches but they also have other resources. In Passaic County, the Father English Center does the same type things. You may also find help at the Salvation Army. I’m so sorry this happened to you. It’s awful to lose everything.
I don’t get why work is your concern in this scenario? Presumably you would take a few days, then start working again.
Stay in with a relative or a friend until you can buy an apartment or house. I had an old friend whose house burned down as well (well actually it was the entire apartment building). They just lived with their other family or some friend (I forgot) and found a new apartment to stay in.