It was another warm and windy night in Southern California. As with any strong East wind event, we anticipated hearing about a small brush fire or two in the morning, so it wasn’t much of a surprise to hear about the one that kicked up about 20 miles away.

Let’s talk about what you need to know in order to decide whether or not you and your company are up to leaving home plate to work a CAT storm outside of your normal work area.

In the restoration industry, we talk about catastrophe loss quite often. In fact, R&R is launching a conference dedicated to educating restorers on handling CAT claims. However, there is a common misconception when it comes to disaster restoration: that traveling is required. 

According to CoreLogic© hazard risk analysis, a total of 86,242 homes in Ventura and Los Angeles counties with a combined reconstruction cost value (RCV) of $27.7 billion are at some level of risk from the Thomas, Rye and Creek Wildfires.

Picture this. The area of California that was scorched from this fall’s massive wildfires is three times the size of Washington D.C. In just one 12 hour period, the fires devastated 20,000 acres of land … and at one point was advancing at the rate of a football field every three seconds.

It was July of 2014 – a wildfire had erupted in Amador County, Calif. For days, the fire grew and spread with more than 2,000 firefighters working to get ahead of the flames and contain the blaze.

In part 1, Annissa explains what a cat loss situation might entail, and four things you need to know about each situation.