FIRE! HOW TO HANDLE THE EMERGENCY, WHAT CRITICAL STEPS TO TAKE AFTERWARD

(Page 2 of 2)

At 240 E. Houston Street, unit-owners were allowed to make supervised visits to the apartments twice —  once the very evening of the fire to collect things like medication, and a second time the day after to gather valuables and essentials that might be needed while the building is uninhabitable, which could be weeks or months.

Restoration companies will board up windows and replace and lock doors. But in some cases, it's your building's management that needs to hire security personnel to guard against theft or vandalism in a partially burned-out building. Cooper Square Realty, the management firm for 240 E. Houston, hired a 24-hour security detail made up of off-duty police officers, the cost of which was covered by insurance. "These were not minimum-wage security guards," Tal Eyal, chief operating officer of Cooper Square, explains. "We paid more to protect the property, and residents were very appreciative."

How long security is needed varies from case to case. If the fire is thought to be arson or deemed a crime scene of another sort, the property can be off-limits for weeks. Insurance will then cover loss of income from maintenance or common charges that displaced residents are not obligated to pay.

Working With Insurance

The next steps involve having the manager and/or a board member work with the co-op / condo's insurance adjuster — and with the different insurance companies retained by the shareholders or unit-owners. You may also ask manager to assist residents in need. At Georgetown Mews, property manager Robert D'Amico of Mark Greenberg Real Estate walked many confused shareholders through the basics of their policies

Within days of a fire, insurance adjusters come to the site to begin to assess the damages. If the fire is relatively small, they work with the building management to agree on the claims. Larger fires like the one at 240 E. Houston Street require the services of a public adjuster hired by the building or a unit-owner to advocate on behalf of the insured. The best of them are well versed in the cost of repairs and replacement and up to date on building law and code changes that may have to be addressed after a fire to bring a century-old building up to code.

There is a sort of ambulance-chasing culture among some of these public adjustors, many of whom head to fires as soon as they hear about them on the police scanners. But reputable ones have established relationships with management companies and are a big help in navigating the confusing waters of insurance claims. "My job is to get in there and settle the loss as quickly as possible but make sure I have found every dollar possible to be gained for the client," says David Azus of Affiliated Adjustment Group. "It doesn't have to be confrontational or adversarial."

In fact, if you prepare properly, a tragedy doesn't have to be the end of the road, either. As Stokes notes, it's a question of putting the crisis into perspective and coping. "We didn't lose lives," she says. "We have our challenging days. But we are moving forward." 

Adapted from Habitat April 2012. For the complete article and more, join our Archive >>