House Burned Up -- Anyone Know about Insurance?

[deere755]

Because that would be considered insurance fraud and then the insurance company sure wouldn't pay. Notice that Curly Dave said that the fire investigator came in and determined the cause of the fire. If the fire department allowed it to "burn to the ground" then it wouldn't be as easy to determine the cause of the fire and whether or not it was arson.

We often have homeowners request that we "let it burn", but cannot because of this. I don't know about in California, but in Alabama if we are called to a structure fire we have to extinguish it.

Chris

The law is the same in Illinois. We have to do all we can to put it out if we are called. We sometimes burn an old house someone is wanting to get rid of for practice. Live burns make great training for us especially new firefighters who have never been in a burning building before. One thing we require is that the owner show proof that the structure is not insured. We also have to go thru the historical society to make sure it is not a landmark.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Because that would be considered insurance fraud and then the insurance company sure wouldn't pay. Notice that Curly Dave said that the fire investigator came in and determined the cause of the fire. If the fire department allowed it to "burn to the ground" then it wouldn't be as easy to determine the cause of the fire and whether or not it was arson.

We often have homeowners request that we "let it burn", but cannot because of this. I don't know about in California, but in Alabama if we are called to a structure fire we have to extinguish it.

Chris

Funny, the fire marshall that investigated my house fire said that the fire companies do more to destroy the evidence than they do to preserve it. Not on purpose, but that's how a fire gets extinguished.

Yea, around here the firemen say that the first truck to show up should be the fuel truck.

 

[schmism]

The law is the same in Illinois. We have to do all we can to put it out if we are called. We sometimes burn an old house someone is wanting to get rid of for practice. Live burns make great training for us especially new firefighters who have never been in a burning building before. One thing we require is that the owner show proof that the structure is not insured. We also have to go thru the historical society to make sure it is not a landmark.

Im on our local volunteer FD. Our policy is to contain. We generally dont have the resources (read water supply) to put out a fire. So its simply, contain it, keep other structures in the area from catching fire and wait till it burns down to a small pile then pour several thousand gallons on it and go home.

if we can get there quickly enough we can put them out. but with a mean time between 911 call and time on scene of 10-15 mins, and the fact that a fire doubles in size every min. It can be hard especially with no hydrant access and only the 4000 gals on hand to start with before you can get the mutual aid call in and 2 dump tanks and water shuttle started with 2+ tankers.

 

[firefighter9208]

The law is the same in Illinois. We have to do all we can to put it out if we are called. We sometimes burn an old house someone is wanting to get rid of for practice. Live burns make great training for us especially new firefighters who have never been in a burning building before. One thing we require is that the owner show proof that the structure is not insured. We also have to go thru the historical society to make sure it is not a landmark.

We also sometimes burn old houses as training. We require that the homeowner sign a waver stating that we are not responsilbe for damages, blah, blah, blah, and that it is not insured.

The state of Alabama has now thrown a monkey wrench into "live fire" training. You must now have a certifed "live fire training officer" on site to do any "live fire" training. The good thing is that the Alabama Fire College now has a course. We just have to send someone to get certified.

I guess there have been too many people injured who didn't know what they were doing. Reminds me of the clip on the TV show Destroyed in Seconds. Where the firefighters pour gasoline in/on a building and then one of them walks up to set it on fire and gets blown across the yard.

 

[RobertN]

Been seeing too many training incidents on the "Secret List" and other frequent emails forwarded in our district... Just like all the apparatus accidents lately. Too many people being hurt.

We also sometimes burn old houses as training. We require that the homeowner sign a waver stating that we are not responsilbe for damages, blah, blah, blah, and that it is not insured.

The state of Alabama has now thrown a monkey wrench into "live fire" training. You must now have a certifed "live fire training officer" on site to do any "live fire" training. The good thing is that the Alabama Fire College now has a course. We just have to send someone to get certified.

I guess there have been too many people injured who didn't know what they were doing. Reminds me of the clip on the TV show Destroyed in Seconds. Where the firefighters pour gasoline in/on a building and then one of them walks up to set it on fire and gets blown across the yard.

 

[firefighter9208]

I agree. In my opinion Firefighters should be required to have a CDL to operate an emergency vehicle, but in our state (Alabama) they are exempt. Of course it's so hard to get anyone to volunteer, it probably keep a lot of people from joining if they had to have a CDL.

In our department we require that you have driver training with the training officer. You also must have someone ride with you on emergency calls until we are confident that you are ready to drive by yourself.

Our sister department does have a 3000 Kenworth 10 wheel tanker. They require a CDL with tanker endorsement to drive it, but that is a local fire department policy.

Chris

 

[RobertN]

We may have two burn building available early next month. The Captain in charge of the exercise may limit access inside one, because of existing hazards.

I'm getting ready to get my permit; CDL Class-B Firefighter. I have driver operator 1A and 1B classes already.

We are short on operators in the volunteer ranks right now. Mostly because of license requirements. That's good though, cause when your operating, your on a 20,000+lb engine, or on a 10-by water tender with 2800 gallons of water. Definitely need to know how to drive them correctly. Then there are hazmat endorsements for compressed gas/cylinders(SCBA, o2). Tank, air brake, manual tranny endorsements too.

We do have a FF restricted class-b license you can do, but the testing and training is same as full commercial.

I agree. In my opinion Firefighters should be required to have a CDL to operate an emergency vehicle, but in our state (Alabama) they are exempt. Of course it's so hard to get anyone to volunteer, it probably keep a lot of people from joining if they had to have a CDL.

In our department we require that you have driver training with the training officer. You also must have someone ride with you on emergency calls until we are confident that you are ready to drive by yourself.

Our sister department does have a 3000 Kenworth 10 wheel tanker. They require a CDL with tanker endorsement to drive it, but that is a local fire department policy.

Chris

 

[Philscbx]

Hi Dave,
My home and everything I owned besides the shorts and sandals I was wearing at the time was destroyed in a fire 2 years ago.
Jerry

Links to my fire;
cbs13.com - Video Library

Woman Arrested After Fatal Hit-And-Run - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento

Absolutely the most insane thing I have ever seen.
I am sorry to see the loss that was endured by all. It reminded me of ours when I was a kid. And watching only one of the video's is about all I could do. Strange how even at 5 years old at the time, I now recalled events I had forgotten after seeing this.

I'm sure your help will be grateful.

 

[schmism]

Our dept (perhaps state of IL) requires a Class B CDL to drive the "big trucks" Anyone over 18 and valid drivers license can drive the F350 Brush truck or E250 van (first responder) I was told no air brake endorsement was required despite both our pumper and 3300 gal tender are air brake.

We may have two burn building available early next month. The Captain in charge of the exercise may limit access inside one, because of existing hazards.

I'm getting ready to get my permit; CDL Class-B Firefighter. I have driver operator 1A and 1B classes already.

We are short on operators in the volunteer ranks right now. Mostly because of license requirements. That's good though, cause when your operating, your on a 20,000+lb engine, or on a 10-by water tender with 2800 gallons of water. Definitely need to know how to drive them correctly. Then there are hazmat endorsements for compressed gas/cylinders(SCBA, o2). Tank, air brake, manual tranny endorsements too.

We do have a FF restricted class-b license you can do, but the testing and training is same as full commercial.

 

[CurlyDave]

Today I hired a Public Adjustor to deal with the insurance company.

I had thought about this previously, but the expense, combined with the fact that the guys I talked to were not the sharpest tacks in the box, had made me think that I was better off without one.

The primary reason I hired him is that he knows the policies and procedures of the insurance company and I don't. It is sort of like he is a member of the "club", and I am not. In this kind of situation, the company is going to try to use my lack of insider knowledge against me, by making an initial offer which is too low. No matter how persuasive I am, they are professionals and are not going to ever give an amateur their best possible offer.

I finally found someone who appears to be knowledgeable and intelligent. He is going to charge 6% of the final settlement, which is less than most other public adjustors and I expect he will increase the amount of the settlement by more than that.

He already proved his worth by pointing out that my policy really says that it is my responsibility to give the company a claim for my loss. I had been all caught up in the fact that they hired a contractor to estimate my loss, and was attempting to show him how high the loss really was. That is the wrong approach. I need to put together my own, independent, estimate of the loss and under the law, the insurance company then has to either pay based on my estimate, or prove to me that mine is too high.