Fire Loss Resource Hub

After a fire, almost everything you need to know arrives at once, from people who assume you already understand insurance. These ten pages are the opposite: written for the person the fire happened to, in the order the problems actually arrive.

They are free, there is nothing to sign up for, and every factual claim about claims practice is sourced to the federal agencies and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners rather than to us. Where something depends on your policy or on your state, we say so instead of guessing.

If the fire was today, read this much

Do not go back inside until the fire department says it is safe, and do not turn utilities back on yourself.
Call a disaster relief organization for somewhere to stay tonight.
Report the fire to your insurer and ask what to do first. Tell your mortgage company or landlord.
Start keeping every receipt today, including tonight.
Do not throw anything away until it has been photographed and listed.

In the first days

Safety, shelter and the things that can only be captured before recovery starts moving.

What to Do After a House Fire

The first hours, in the order they actually happen — safety, shelter, securing the property, reporting the loss, and the records to start keeping immediately.

Photos, Video, Receipts: Evidence to Preserve After a Fire

The evidence that exists only until cleanup starts — what to capture, in what order, and the ordinary actions that quietly destroy it.

Building the record

A fire claim is decided on what you can prove. This is the record, and the longest part of assembling it.

How to Document a Fire Insurance Claim

What a claim file actually needs to contain, who asks for each piece, and how to organize it so nothing has to be reconstructed from memory later.

How to Create a Contents Inventory After a Fire

The longest and most under-done part of a fire claim. How to reconstruct what you owned, what each line needs, and how to get through it without burning out.

Living somewhere while it is repaired

The coverage that pays the extra cost of not being able to live at home.

Temporary Housing and Additional Living Expenses After a Fire

The coverage that pays for somewhere to live while the house is repaired — what counts as an additional expense, the limits that apply, and why receipts decide it.

What the claim is worth

Where two estimates come from, why they differ, and the policy setting that decides how much of the loss is actually paid.

Contractor Estimates and the Insurance Company Estimate

Two estimates for the same house rarely match. What causes the gap, how to compare them properly, and the formal routes when agreement fails.

Replacement Cost, Actual Cash Value and Depreciation After a Fire

The single policy setting that changes what a fire loss actually pays, how depreciation is calculated, and what recoverable depreciation requires of you.

Getting paid, and getting through it

How the money actually reaches the work, how long the whole thing takes, and when a claim has outgrown one household.

Printable forms and checklists

The guides above explain the process. These are the documents to work from while you do it — the same material as downloadable forms.