In May 2016, the massive Fort McMurray wildfire that forced more than 80,000 people from their homes was dubbed the costliest disaster for insurers in Canadian history. With tens of thousands of personal, commercial and auto claims, the devastation took months to document and the re-build will be underway for some time to come.
The employees will have to be self-sufficient, carrying their own water and food (MREs, or meals ready-to-eat). Their vehicles will carry spare fuel, and they will carry two-way, satellite-based radios for communication.
Those willing to do something different, offer something of value to victims of a fire loss will earn the trust and gratitude of a person or family for a long time into the future.
To demolish, or not to demolish, that is the question. In a nod to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and perhaps one of the most popular lines in English literature, we are constantly faced with this issue in our industry.
Each year we spend billions of dollars to respond to and recover from disasters, large and small. This money ultimately comes right out of our pockets in the form of higher insurance premiums and taxes.
When disaster strikes, we see the outside devastation by the number of homes damaged or completely destroyed. But for most, the real devastation happens inside the home.
When the world thinks about natural disasters, they are often thinking on a large scale: Hurricane Katrina, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Joplin tornados, wildfires spreading across state lines, and the like. In reality, however, those are a very small fraction of the disasters that happen almost daily around the world.
Hurricane Georgia left a trail of destruction that ravaged thousands of homes along the Atlantic coastline. In the days that followed, hundreds of restoration companies from all over the country mobilized resources to help put lives back together.
Catastrophe situations typically involve numerous flood claims, making for brisk business for restoration companies. When a property owner states they have insurance, it would be wise to clarify if it is going to be a standard property claim, or insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).