Recovering Losses After a Tragedy

From June to August, America experiences the hottest and the dried months. Also, the months present the best opportunity for family cookouts, camping, and other activities that may require starting fires outdoors. The combination of these factors makes fire accidents pretty prevalent.

If you are a fire survivor, you have something to be thankful for because it didnโ€™t end fatally. However, moving on from a fire tragedy can be challenging, especially after losing all your belongings.

But you can do a few things to make your recovery from the loss more bearable.

1.  Seek Compensation

If another party caused the fire that resulted in your losses, you could be eligible for compensation. However, to recover losses from a fire tragedy, you must prove that the fire resulted from someone elseโ€™s negligence and that it resulted in losses.

Proving liability may not be easy for a layman. Considering the value of losses you can recover from a fire lawsuit largely depends on proving liability, you may want to consider talking to an experienced fire attorney. Besides calculating your claimโ€™s value, a lawyer can help you handle settlement negotiations and even represent you in court if it comes to that.

2.  Get Psychological Help

Besides financial losses, fires can mean losing everything you hold dear. Whether it is the cherished memories of your loved ones in photos, properties passed down through generations or some most trusted relics.

Losing such items can leave you feeling like one part of your life is gone for good. While it is okay to grieve for some time, it would be a good idea to get help, especially if you cannot get over it as soon as you hoped.

You could start by sharing your feelings with friends and relatives. If that doesnโ€™t help, seek help from a mental health professional.

3.  Set Up a Crowdfunding Campaign

If you did not have insurance coverage on your home and the fire resulted from your negligence, recovering damages from an insurance company or another entity may not be an option.

But you could reach out to the community for help. You may be surprised at how willing to help people can be when someone in genuine need calls out for help.

The best approach when seeking help would be to set up a crowdfunding campaign on any crowdfunding platform such as GoFundMe. You could also share your story with your audience on various social media platforms and ask for help.

4.  Ask For Extensions From Lenders

If you are still paying a mortgage for your burned-down property, you must immediately report the incident to your mortgage company. Almost all mortgage companies require homeowners to buy home insurance for their homes as long as they havenโ€™t paid off their mortgage.

While you wait to recover losses from your insurer, you can ask the mortgage company to allow you a grace period to get your life together. Credit card companies also allow for extensions or grace periods if you contact them after suffering a huge loss such as a fire tragedy.

5.  Replace Important Documents

If you have vital documents in your home, keeping them in a fireproof locker would be a good idea. However, this is not always possible, meaning you could lose them in a fire. Unfortunately, some of the documents necessary to help you recover could also get lost in the fire.

Luckily most documents are replaceable, but you will need to contact the relevant agencies to have documents such as ID, title deeds, property certificates, driverโ€™s license, and academic and professional certificates. You may also need to reach out to banks for credit and debit card replacements.

Jeff Campbell