House Fire Insurance Claim: What to Do in the First 72 Hours

First, the Part Nobody Needs to Be Told

I've worked claims as a fully independent licensed adjuster for 16 years, and I've seen them from both sides. Fire files are the hardest ones on families, and I'll say this before anything else: people first, paperwork second. Get everyone out, let the fire department do its job, and don't go back inside until they tell you it's safe. Nothing in this article is worth a trip into a building that hasn't been cleared.

Once everyone is safe, though, the clock on the claim starts. The decisions you make in the next 72 hours are mostly simple ones, but they're easy to get wrong when you're exhausted and standing in a borrowed coat in the driveway.

Hour One to Day One: Report It and Get Your Bearings

1. Call your carrier or agent and report the claim. Write down the claim number, the name of who you talked to, and the date and time. If you have a mortgage, the lender will be part of this claim too, so have your loan number handy.
2. Get the fire department's information. Ask for the incident or report number and which station responded. The carrier will want the fire report, and it can take a while to come out, so start the request early.
3. Ask about emergency housing right away. If you can't sleep in the house, most homeowners policies include loss of use, often called Coverage D or additional living expenses (ALE). Ask your carrier what they'll cover for a hotel tonight and how they want it handled.
4. Start a claim notebook. A cheap spiral notebook or a note on your phone. Every call, every name, every promise, every receipt. You will not remember it all later, and you won't have to if it's written down.

If you're not sure what your policy actually includes, our guide to decoding your homeowners policy walks through the coverage parts and where the duties after a loss are written. It's built around roofs, but the layout of the policy is the same on a fire.

Protect What's Left

Just like a storm or water loss, your policy expects you to take reasonable steps to keep the damage from getting worse. On a fire, that usually means:

• Board-up. Broken windows and doors the fire department forced open need to be secured against weather and theft.
• Roof tarping. Firefighters often vent the roof. An open roof plus the next rain means water damage on top of fire damage.
• Fencing or security if the house is open and sitting in a neighborhood.
• Water extraction. Thousands of gallons of water may have gone into that house. It needs to come out before mold sets in.

Talk to your carrier before signing a big contract, and get a written scope and itemized invoice for any emergency work. Reasonable emergency services are commonly part of the claim, but you want a clear record of what was done and why. The Emergency Mitigation Guide covers how to pick an emergency crew and keep a mitigation log adjusters respect.

Photograph Before Anything Moves

Once the fire department clears the house, document it before cleanup, board-up crews, or family members start moving things around. Wide shots of every room first, then close-ups. Ceilings, walls, floors, inside closets and cabinets, the attic if it's safe, and the outside of the house from every side. Video walk-throughs with you narrating what room you're in are even better.

Don't skip the rooms that "only" have smoke. Smoke and soot travel through the whole house, into the HVAC system, behind cabinets, and into clothes and soft goods. Those rooms are a real part of the claim, and photos from the first days are the best proof of what they looked like. The same habits from our storm damage photo guide work inside a burned house.

Don't Throw Anything Away Yet

This is the mistake I see most. A family wants the burned mess gone, a relative shows up with a trailer, and by the time the adjuster arrives half the contents are at the dump. Now there's nothing to look at, and the contents claim gets a lot harder to support.

Unless something is a health hazard, like spoiled food, leave damaged items where they are until the adjuster has seen them or the carrier tells you it's okay to dispose of them. If something truly has to go, photograph it first, write down what it was, and keep a sample or a tag if you can.

The Fire Investigation Is Normal

On larger fires, the carrier may send a cause-and-origin investigator in addition to the field adjuster. People sometimes take that personally. Don't. Figuring out where a fire started and why is a standard part of a lot of fire claims, and it can matter for things like a product defect or a contractor's work that caused the fire.

Be cooperative and honest, answer what you know, and don't guess at what you don't. If you have photos, videos, or a doorbell camera clip from before or during the fire, let the carrier know they exist. If something about the investigation makes you uneasy, that's the time to talk with an attorney licensed in your state, not to stop cooperating.

Living Expenses: Keep Every Receipt

Additional living expenses usually cover the extra cost of living somewhere else while your home is repaired. The key word is extra. If your normal grocery bill is $200 a week and eating out costs you $450, the difference is the part that's typically in play. Same with extra mileage to work or school from a temporary rental.

• Keep every receipt for hotels, meals, laundry, mileage, pet boarding, and anything else you wouldn't have spent if the fire hadn't happened.
• Ask about limits. Loss of use is often capped at a dollar amount or a time period. Know yours early so a long rebuild doesn't catch you off guard.
• Ask about an advance. Many carriers will issue an advance payment for living expenses or contents so you aren't floating everything on a credit card.

Start the Contents List on Day Two or Three

The personal property inventory is the most overwhelming part of a fire claim. You're being asked to list everything you own, room by room, often with age and replacement cost. Don't try to do it all at once, and don't wait until you feel ready, because you won't.

Start with one room. Walk it in your head, or better, walk through old phone photos and videos from birthdays and holidays. Pull purchase history from online store accounts and credit card statements. Write down brand, about how old it is, and what it would cost to replace. You'll likely see depreciation on the contents side too, and ACV vs. RCV and recoverable depreciation explains how that money can come back as you replace things.

Slow Down on Contractors and Big Decisions

Within a day of a fire, you may have contractors and restoration companies knocking on the door. Some are good. Some will ask you to sign a contract or an assignment of benefits on the spot. You don't have to decide anything in the driveway. Get emergency services handled, get the adjuster out, and then pick a rebuild contractor the way you'd pick one for any major job: references, license, insurance, and a written estimate. Our article on storm chasers vs. local roofers is about roofs, but the same warning signs apply.

When the carrier's estimate comes in, read it line by line and compare it to your contractor's. How to read an insurance estimate walks through what to check. And if the damage is heavy, it's fair to ask whether the home should be treated as a total loss or a repair. That question changes the whole claim.

A Quick 72-Hour Checklist

• Everyone safe, and the house cleared by the fire department before anyone goes in.
• Claim reported, claim number written down, mortgage lender noted.
• Fire report number requested.
• Temporary housing arranged and loss-of-use coverage confirmed.
• Board-up, tarp, and water extraction handled, with written scopes.
• Photos and video of every room and the exterior before cleanup.
• Nothing thrown away without photos and the carrier's OK.
• Receipts folder and claim notebook started.
• Contents inventory begun, one room at a time.

This article is general education about how claims typically work. Every policy, carrier, and state is different, and nothing here is legal advice or a promise about how your claim will turn out.

Damage so heavy you're wondering if it's a total loss? See the Total Loss vs. Partial Loss Playbook.