What to Expect After You've Lost Your House in a Fire and How Long to Recover From It

In 2003, the devastating Cedar Fire took 16 lives and nearly 2500 homes in San Diego and San Bernardino counties, including my own home. I offer my deepest sympathies to 2007's wildfire survivors along with advice for dealing with the onslaught of red tape and negative emotions that most of you will be facing in the coming months.

When fire survival expert George Kehrer, himself a survivor of the Oakland Hills wildfires, told the 2003 fire survivors to expect a two-year recovery on average, most of us thought that he was exaggerating. He wasn't.

Surviving such a cataclysmic disaster readjusts your thinking, particularly in regard to possessions and your own mortality. For the 2007 survivors, I'll try to best describe what to expect next.

The First Month

In the first month after our house burned down, everyone became our friend. The Red Cross and, yes, FEMA arrived immediately to help, setting up a "one-stop-shop" in a local community center. Gift cards and supplies were given to us. The local Catholic church opened its doors wide and offered donations of clothing and other necessities of life. The San Diego Food Bank offered free groceries. Local merchants offered deep discounts.

And the insurance companies showed up in mobile homes, and parked in front of the "one-stop-shop." They immediately issued checks for living expenses.

Neighbors organized a fire survivors group. We assembled for meetings and social gatherings at each others' homes. We were family and instant best friends. I admittedly struggled with my usual cynical worldview.

The Second Month

Another month passed. We had found an apartment in a complex where friends lived. We spent our Red Cross Target cards and stocked up on the usual crap. Forgive me, but after losing all my personal possessions, including family photos and my comic book collection, I'm naturally resistant to accumulating any goods whatsoever.

Also in the second month after the fires, the insurance companies began to balk on coverage terms, making the word "underinsured" a permanent part of most of our vocabularies. Of course, it was at this exact point where "Kumbaya" ended and the lawyers entered the picture. Almost everyone lawyered-up or decided to fight the insurance companies themselves with the aid of self-help experts like George Kehrer.

Even though the lawyers had arrived, public sympathy remained with the wildfire survivors.

The First Year

A year went by, and most survivors had signed up with contractors. And the insurance companies were beginning to pay out. Public sympathy still remained with the survivors, even though we were now officially back-page news.

Six More Months Pass

As our insurance issues began to get resolved and the rebuilding process started rolling, public sympathy began to wane. I started hearing stray comments including words like "windfall." A guy at work even told me that I had "lucked out." He backed off only after I told him that I could change his luck easily enough with a Molotov cocktail on his roof.

Many of our neighbors lawyered-up once again this time against contractors. Some contractors were incompetent. Others were insolvent. And most of the rest employed stall tactics that seemed to drag on endlessly.

The Second Year

As George Kehrer predicted, two years passed. The 2003 wildfires had become old news. Neighborhoods had been rebuilt. What was once quaint and 1970s Brady Bunch suburban had become mini-mansion hell with neighbors now cheek to jowl and not quite friendly to each other anymore. In fact, some actually wound up enemies in nasty property feuds.

And my cynicism returned.

Sources:

"How Do You Pick Up the Pieces After a Fire?"

"Before you have to face disaster, check your home insurance now!"