Action Plan for Those Affected by the Fires

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People trying to evacuate were trapped in their cars. Firefighters told them to leave the cars, get out and walk to the beach. The cars on the left side were unburned. The cars on the right side (further down) burned. In order to make way for firetrucks, a bulldozer pushed the cars to the side, where they were still parked on Sunday, five days later.

(Editor’s note: This list was sent out by the Palisades Community Council and CTN received the same letter from former LAPD Beach Detail Officer Rusty Redican. When people have lost everything, it might seem overwhelming about what to do next and it provides a list.)

Small list:

1. Get a PO Box.
2. Longer term rental search – include insurance on it so they pay directly for rental. Find a nice place that you like, don’t settle. You should be able to get a “Like Property” so insurance should cover a nice place for you to live while you work through all this. You might be living here for two years, so choose wisely.
3. Find a place to buy some sturdy boots and gloves. Get some shovels.
4. Start working on the personal property list (this is not fun at all). Write down the moment you remember – keep list on phone or pad of paper with you at all times. (Editor’s note: Our daughter took this task on for us and it was so helpful.)
5. Save receipts. Loss of use insurance will cover incidentals too – hairbrush, phone chargers, etc.
6. As you buy things, tell the store owner your situation. Most stores will give you some level of discount as their way of helping you.
7. Let people do things for you. Do you have a friend that you can send to the store to buy you some basic clothes or comfort foods? Let them do it – they want to help and you don’t need to spend time doing these errands. (The ‘fun’ of shopping is gone…it quickly becomes a chore because you don’t want a new shirt, you want the one that you always liked to wear, but now it’s gone.)

This home in Castellammare needs to be rebuilt, but first insurance, FEMA, a place to rent and towels.

Big List:

1. Register at the shelters, with Red Cross and any other agency or nonprofit, church, that might provide help such as FEMA. Most of the aid coming in will use these lists as a point of contact and will help to ensure that you don’t get left out of anything.
2. Call Homeowners/Rental insurance to trigger “Loss of Use.”  This coverage should also give you some immediate access to funds for essentials, clothes, toothbrushes and food. This will also get the ball rolling for the insurance claim on your home and rebuilding.
3. Get a PO Box and forward all mail to the Box. . Use this PO Box as the mailing address on all forms you begin to fill out.
4. Start Searching for a Long term rental.  Coordinate with your insurance company so that payments can be made directly from them. Plan on renting 1-2 years, but do
not necessarily sign a lease for a full two years as circumstances can change.
5. Itemized List of belongings. This is very hard but very necessary for your claim) . I would organize by room and list everything that was there with a replacement cost.
a. Replacement Cost should be what it would cost to replace an item.
b. Make sure you list everything, even if it is above and beyond your policy limit. This is very important because everything above and beyond the policy limit is considered a Loss and can be claimed as such on your taxes – See #8
6. Call all of your utilities and either freeze or cancel service. Electric, Gas, TV, Land Line phone and newspaper delivery, either cancel or update to PO Box.
7.Permits – An unfortunate necessity. Debris Removal – as things wind down it will be necessary to remove the debris, this requires a permit usually. (This should be covered by your insurance, we had to force the issue but ask repeatedly.)
a. Erosion Control – If you are on any kind of hill or have sloped property you will need to put some sort of erosion control measures in place, again this will need some sort of permit.
b. Temporary Power Pole/Trailer on site Permit – Getting this earlier on can prove helpful in both the rebuilding process.
8. Taxes. You will be able to claim the monetary loss of the value of all your items minus what you receive from your insurance company. I’m unfamiliar with the exact laws, but I believe that we were able to carry our losses back 2-5 years and received most of the money that we had paid in taxes back in a nice large check.
9. Network with others. You will learn so much from others as you go through the rebuilding process.The amount of time that you will spend on the rebuild, insurance, recovery process is staggering so you need to use all your resources.

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