From the Ashes

Last year, from her office window in Malibu which overlooks Santa Monica Bay, Mary Craig Calkins watched as the Palisades fire burned in the distance. Authorities had already turned off the electricity as a public safety measure, so she had no access to local news reports. Her family’s house would be OK, she assumed, just like it was in 1993 when another blaze burned all but five homes.

At sunset, however, powerful Santa Ana winds shifted the direction of the fire. “And we saw flames on the mountain coming toward us,” says Calkins, an insurance recovery attorney with Blank Rome in Los Angeles. “We were in the pathway of the fire.

“There are other homes, this time, around us that survived. And we did not,” she says. “I really didn’t think our house was going to go.”

In Southern California, rising global temperatures, droughts and other factors related to climate change have escalated the risk of wildfires. “There are wildfires all the time in the wilderness because of lightning strikes,” says Derek Chaiken, an attorney at Merlin Law Group in LA. “But to actually have a town burn down in a major metropolitan city is unprecedented in modern society.”

Obviously natural disasters are beyond our control. But preparing for the worst is more important than ever, according to attorneys who advise clients in the aftermath of wildfires, floods and other catastrophic events. 

“There’s a belief that, no matter how often you hear in the news about things that are devastating other people’s lives and homes, ‘Those kinds of things will never happen to me,’” says Samuel Bruchey, a lawyer at Shernoff Bidart Echeverria in Beverly Hills whose own home in Altadena barely escaped the deadly Eaton fire in early 2025. “A lot of people just act upon that false sense of comfort, and they don’t take precautionary steps in advance.”

Gotcha Covered—Or Not

It’s essential to buy enough insurance coverage to rebuild or replace your home and belongings. “If you lose your house in the fire, that’s a tragedy alone,” Chaiken says. “But then to find out that you’re never going to be able to financially recover because you don’t have the right policy is what a lot of people are calling me about.”

Talk to your insurance agent, but don’t rely on them to accurately tell you how much it will cost to rebuild. For that, you’ll want to consult a local licensed contractor who can assess the real value of your home based on the current market. Keep in mind, too, that “surge demand” for supplies will inevitably hit when multiple homeowners file claims, jacking up the cost of repairing or replacing your property. 

If you own an older home, you’ll likely need to add a “code upgrade” endorsement to your policy to pay for energy-efficient windows and other new building requirements. Valuable jewelry or collectibles? You’ll need a special endorsement for that too. And remember that earthquakes and mudslides, considered “earth movement,” aren’t typically included in a homeowners policy.

To complicate matters, many insurance companies have pulled out of California and others have significantly increased their rates. If you live in a fire-prone area, you might only be able to get coverage through the California FAIR Plan, a syndicated fire insurance pool billed as “the state’s insurer of last resort.” 

The problem with FAIR, says Walter Lack, an attorney with Engstrom, Lipscomb & Lack in LA, is that “the largest policy they issue is $3 million, which barely makes a scratch in the value of some of these homes, and they don’t provide any coverage for contents. It’s a really difficult problem that the Legislature is grappling with. And it’s only going to get worse because I don’t think the frequency of fires is going to reduce.”

If your insurance company will still sell you a policy, but you think you need more coverage, ask for it. Request additional coverage in writing, Lack suggests. That way, if the insurer declines and there’s ever a dispute, you may be able to prove the company was negligent in underwriting the policy.

Document, Document, Document

Record an inventory of everything you own. “The more you do that, the better, because if you are affected by a fire or tornado, you’re going to be required to gather that information and turn it over to your insurance company,” Bruchey says. “Even if you litigate against a utility company to try to recover for your losses, you’ll be obligated to quantify your losses. And it’s nearly impossible to do after the fact, when you’re going through so much emotionally.”

Create a written record of purchased items, especially big-ticket items, and how much you paid for them. Keep your documentation off-site or save it online.

Slowly video every single room in your home, and don’t wait until a fire or flood is imminent. Include pantries, shelves and other hidden spaces. As the fire roared closer to her house, Calkins quickly took a 360-degree video of the interior. In her haste, she says, “I missed three or four areas. I missed closets.” 

Snap photos of family pictures and art pieces, and gather any available certificates of authenticity for the latter. Calkins suggests asking yourself, “What would you mourn if you lost it?” 

Gather important documents—insurance policies, marriage and birth certificates, critical account and financial information—in one box, and scan and store what you can in the cloud or at a different location. Keep the container ready to grab if you have to evacuate. And don’t expect an on-site lockbox to keep your valuables safe. 

“Many of my clients have found that their paperwork—documents, deeds, things along that line—became a pile of ash because of the heat,” Calkins warns. “One of my clients found the stones from two rings, but not the metal because the metal had melted.” 

After Disaster Strikes

If a catastrophic event does occur, contact your insurance company as soon as possible, but take care of yourself first, says Bruchey. 

“You can take your time and make sure your family is safe and remove whatever you can from your house and get yourself settled into temporary housing. Call them as reasonably promptly as you’re able to, under the circumstances.” The deadline varies depending on the company. 

California’s Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations stipulate that the insurer must promptly acknowledge your claim and provide a written decision. Log all contact with the insurance company, including delays, which are common when multiple claims are pouring in after a disaster, and the details of your discussions. And insist on what you deserve.

“Watch your tone. You should be a nice squeaky wheel, because your communications to the insurance company may be evidence if you need to pursue resolution,” says Calkins. 

It might be a good idea to enlist a licensed public adjuster to negotiate on your behalf and lessen your worries about handling everything yourself. You can find one in your area through the Pacific Coast Association of Public Insurance Adjusters.

“I call it almost like being a general contractor for your insurance claim,” says Chaiken. “And yes, they do take a percentage of your claim payment, but to a lot of people, it’s worth it. Some people will hire an interior decorator to do a remodel of their $5,000 bathroom, but you’re not going to hire an expert to help you on your multimillion-dollar insurance claim? It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

If your house is damaged but still standing after a fire, you might also need to hire an industrial hygienist to investigate potential health hazards caused by smoke, soot and ash sucked into your home, strewing toxins like lead, arsenic and asbestos. Fire residue can affect the respiratory system and, contrary to what insurance company representatives might assert, won’t wash out of affected clothes or sheets. 

“Every time I’d go to the Palisades over the first couple of months [after the 2025 fire],” says Chaiken, “my arm would break out in hives.”

Repair, Replace, Rebuild

When it’s time to replace or rebuild, gather multiple contractor bids—the more specific, the better. 

“An insurance company may base the loss on square footage, run through a computer program. They spit out what you should be able to repair or replace, at what cost,” Calkins says. “That may not be accurate.”

Ask your insurer to replace, not just patch, damage you can see in your “field of view,” she adds. Hold your ground on “like-kind” replacements. “If you had a subzero refrigerator, you do not want a bargain-basement, cubby-hole type of refrigerator to replace it,” Calkins says.

Be prepared for pushback. There may be sublimits on coverage for content replacement, outbuildings and debris removal. And brace for arguments over depreciation. “That’s just a dreary, tedious process that wears you down,” Lack says, and one that may tempt you to accept less than your possessions are worth. 

Last Resorts

Delays in insurance payoffs are common, attorneys say. In some cases, there is little to no continuity within claims departments or with contracted adjusters who have a lot on their plates. 

“People can accomplish a lot on their own just by being vigilant and persistent with their insurance companies,” says Bruchey. “If people are willing and have the ability to push the claim forward in that way, they can accomplish a great deal on their own, without having to look for a lawyer.”

If you’re still not getting the answers you need, you can file a complaint with the California Department of Insurance—although the agency is often backed up after a widespread disaster. 

As a last resort, talk to an attorney who can offer advice on what’s fair, or who can sue the insurance company for delaying, underpaying or denying claims—or, if applicable, the utility company whose faulty equipment allegedly led to the blaze. Litigation is not a speedy process and can take years. Fortunately, it doesn’t put the brakes on the claims process, which means the insurance company must continue to pay for your temporary housing and other agreed expenses. 

“So, although litigation isn’t an overnight fix,” Bruchey points out, “the leverage that you bring from that litigation will increase the likelihood that the insurance company is going to clean up its act after you file suit.”

Down to Business

If you own a business, you’ll likely face unique challenges in the wake of a disaster. 

Review your policy’s coverage for business interruption, which you can claim if a local authority gives evacuation orders, mandates curfews or blocks access to your company. Even when you’re back up and running, your customers may not be able to get to you. 

“If you look at the Palisades [fire], there were businesses that were still standing after the fire, but obviously for a month or so, there were restrictions that actually affected people’s ability to go to the Palisades,” says Kirk Pasich, an attorney with McGuireWoods in LA. “You had to have a permit to get in. So if you had a still-standing business, you didn’t have anybody to come and buy your goods.”

Maintain a copy of your inventory list off-site, and keep track of your revenue and expense history so you can prove the before-and-after difference. It may be covered by insurance. 

The same harmful chemicals that sweep into homes by wind and fire can affect businesses. Even if you’re able to reopen in a reasonable amount of time, you don’t want customers entering a storefront dusted with heavy metals such as lithium, beryllium or cyanide, says Pasich. And it might be unsafe for you to work there every day. 

“Studies are starting to show that these toxins are becoming physically embedded in structures, which may mean that even if your business structure was still standing after the fire but in reasonably close proximity to the burn area, it may be damaged in ways that you don’t see with the naked eye.”

If your insurer won’t send an industrial hygienist to check the premises, or if you have concerns about their testing, hire one yourself. If you don’t, you could face claims if your customers get sick while shopping in your storefront.

Scam Alert

As if you don’t have enough to deal with after a major disaster, you’ll also need to beware of scammers who come out of the woodwork to prey on unsuspecting homeowners and entrepreneurs. 

During the recent fires, some unscrupulous mortgage lenders conned homeowners into acquiring new loans. “Then as soon as you go into default on that loan, they foreclose on it and then they own the property,” says Lack.

“The charlatans will show up,” adds Chaiken. “And people really need to be careful of contractors that claim that they’ll deal with the insurance company in exchange for waiving your deductible. That’s considered fraud.”

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Wildfire Relief Resources

• American Red Cross (shelter, food, relief supplies, other funding) redcross.org/about-us/our-work/disaster-relief.html
• Community Legal Aid SoCal (free legal services to low-income residents in Orange and Southeast LA counties) communitylegalsocal.org
• Disability & Disaster Hotline (info, referrals and tech assistance for survivors with disabilities) disasterstrategies.org/hotline/
• Disaster Legal Services (DLS) (immediate temporary legal assistance for survivors) americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/about/initiatives/disaster-legal-services/
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (housing assistance, repairs, temporary lodging and legal services) fema.gov/assistance and egateway.fema.gov/ESF6/DRCLocator
• Legal Aid Disaster Resource Center (resources for survivors, legal professionals and others) ladrc.org
• Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles ((free civil legal services to low-income residents) lafla.org
• Los Angeles Regional Food Bank (food assistance) lafoodbank.org/find-food/pantry-locator/
• Team Rubicon (preparedness plans, cleanup and long-term recovery) teamrubiconusa.org/how-we-serve/disaster-response/
• United Way of Greater Los Angeles (wildfire recovery resource hub) unitedwayla.org/wildfire-response-resources/