Beau Cassidy
03-31-2016, 10:01 AM
We all get concerned about fire or theft. Well it hit home 2 weeks ago when the inlaws lost everything but the shirts on their backs. Luckily the mother in law was home and was able to get the 2 cats out but the wind was too strong and was blowing the flames back into the house. The mother in law heard a snapping or popping noise in the basement and when she looked outside thinking the wind was blowing a garbage can around the side of the house was ablaze.
This isn't about sympathy but a primer about disaster planning. First off- this has changed my way of thinking. A LOT. I live in a rural community as do my inlaws. It took the volunteer fire department about 40 minutes to get there. I wasn't there but as best I could tell 4 departments responded. All had limited manpower. My father in law did not have a gun safe but in this case it would have done no good. It would have just been an expensive oven with the degree of devastation here. In the city with quick response time a good fireproof safe would possibly have saved some things.
Another thing we typically do is back up our computers (at least I do) on a hard drive we keep IN THE HOUSE! No more. I am trying to find a decent cloud service with automatic backup.
Belongings- Take pictures or video of them and put them on the cloud! We are going thru old pictures and christmas video to help identify things that were lost.
Scan important paperwork and put it on the cloud. The inlaws have a farm and they lost all of their financial and tax data- a devastating thing into itself.
Talk to your insurance agent and see where you stand in the event of total devastation! I already did that and am covered pretty good. It is little things like where are you going to live and who is paying for it. How long are they going to pay for temporary housing. Who is going to pay for- such in this case- damage to the septic lines where the fire trucks ran over them. The insurance company is balking at that one. The inlaws do not want to leave the property because they have a lot of cows and are concerned about theft so the insurance company is giving them a set amount for a trailer or camper- its not nearly enough....
Birth certificates, drivers licenses, etc all need to be scanned in and put on the cloud. My mother in law lost her purse and had to have everything like that replaced....
A family member losing everything affects EVERY OTHER FAMILY MEMBER IN SOME WAY! My wife lost her wedding dress...
Now for the carnage...
This is NOT what you want to see going up your driveway!
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG950317_zpstyh2ngb0.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG950317_zpstyh2ngb0.jpg.html)
All the important stuff like taxes and guns were in the room that has not yet burned...
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG950319_zps1ggfyiqt.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG950319_zps1ggfyiqt.jpg.html)
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG_0321_zpsgrsrifb4.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG_0321_zpsgrsrifb4.jpg.html)
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG950325_zps8xgyrcoz.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG950325_zps8xgyrcoz.jpg.html)
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG_0324_zpszwrsmh7h.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG_0324_zpszwrsmh7h.jpg.html)
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG950339_zpsmqaenqb4.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG950339_zpsmqaenqb4.jpg.html)
Nothing at all salvagable...
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG950335_zpstjtfdmxw.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG950335_zpstjtfdmxw.jpg.html)
This isn't about sympathy but a primer about disaster planning. First off- this has changed my way of thinking. A LOT. I live in a rural community as do my inlaws. It took the volunteer fire department about 40 minutes to get there. I wasn't there but as best I could tell 4 departments responded. All had limited manpower. My father in law did not have a gun safe but in this case it would have done no good. It would have just been an expensive oven with the degree of devastation here. In the city with quick response time a good fireproof safe would possibly have saved some things.
Another thing we typically do is back up our computers (at least I do) on a hard drive we keep IN THE HOUSE! No more. I am trying to find a decent cloud service with automatic backup.
Belongings- Take pictures or video of them and put them on the cloud! We are going thru old pictures and christmas video to help identify things that were lost.
Scan important paperwork and put it on the cloud. The inlaws have a farm and they lost all of their financial and tax data- a devastating thing into itself.
Talk to your insurance agent and see where you stand in the event of total devastation! I already did that and am covered pretty good. It is little things like where are you going to live and who is paying for it. How long are they going to pay for temporary housing. Who is going to pay for- such in this case- damage to the septic lines where the fire trucks ran over them. The insurance company is balking at that one. The inlaws do not want to leave the property because they have a lot of cows and are concerned about theft so the insurance company is giving them a set amount for a trailer or camper- its not nearly enough....
Birth certificates, drivers licenses, etc all need to be scanned in and put on the cloud. My mother in law lost her purse and had to have everything like that replaced....
A family member losing everything affects EVERY OTHER FAMILY MEMBER IN SOME WAY! My wife lost her wedding dress...
Now for the carnage...
This is NOT what you want to see going up your driveway!
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG950317_zpstyh2ngb0.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG950317_zpstyh2ngb0.jpg.html)
All the important stuff like taxes and guns were in the room that has not yet burned...
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG950319_zps1ggfyiqt.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG950319_zps1ggfyiqt.jpg.html)
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG_0321_zpsgrsrifb4.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG_0321_zpsgrsrifb4.jpg.html)
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG950325_zps8xgyrcoz.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG950325_zps8xgyrcoz.jpg.html)
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG_0324_zpszwrsmh7h.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG_0324_zpszwrsmh7h.jpg.html)
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG950339_zpsmqaenqb4.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG950339_zpsmqaenqb4.jpg.html)
Nothing at all salvagable...
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/OrthoNP/IMG950335_zpstjtfdmxw.jpg (http://s437.photobucket.com/user/OrthoNP/media/IMG950335_zpstjtfdmxw.jpg.html)