Inventory/Mitigate/Harden/Evacuate
Inventory
Inventory your possessions and store the inventory documentation offsite. Inventory seems to be the category which is the least documented in published information, but it may be the most critical in terms of property recovery after a fire. A complete and detailed inventory of your home and contents* will be a necessary part of proving to your insurance company what you had in your home, and the value of your home itself.
While checklists are a critical part of the Evacuation category, they should be considered a necessary part of Inventory, as they should be completed, reviewed, and tested well in advance of their need. Checklists which are created to meet the specific needs of your family, and that are readily available when needed, will be essential in gathering the items that are critical to your survival and recovery when, and after, you receive the call to evacuate.
*An insurance agent’s definition of “contents:” If your home was a saltshaker and you turned it upside down and shook it, everything that fell out would be the “contents.”
Inventory your stuff; know what you have.
First: Talk to your insurance agent.
Your home:
Determine the cost to replace the structure of your home, including improvements and additions that you have made, and building code changes that you will have to follow. Specifically address any changes or items that are difficult to obtain or are especially costly.
Your insurance agent can be of great help here, as they will have access to data about replacement costs that may not be readily available to you.
The contents of your home, and other possessions stored at your home:
For costly items, like televisions, large appliances, list date and place of purchase, cost, make, model, serial number. Where each item is in the house.
For expensive or rare/unusual items, consider having an appraisal done.
The more information you have about each item (or types of small items, like clothing), the easier your claim experience with your insurance company will be.
Inventory resources: Some Inventory information and apps:
How to Create a Home Inventory
A good overview of how to create a home inventory by the largest insurer in Colorado.
Home Inventory
Small print and lots of information, but a good addition to the source above.
The Best Home Inventory Apps and Templates
A source for technology that can help you easily create an inventory.
Create your checklists; know what (and who) you will take with you.
Checklists are an inventory. While an “inventory” is usually considered a list of things, a checklist can be considered a list of actions, especially when those actions need to be executed quickly and at short notice.
Examples of checklists:
- Who you will notify if you must evacuate.
- What (and who) you will take when you evacuate and where you can find it (and them).
- What you have prepared in your GO Bag and the location of the GO Bag.
- Where your family will meet (if not all at home when evacuation begins).
Checklists should be tested after they are created, periodically reviewed for validity, and posted or stored in a place that will be obvious even in a stressful situation needing immediate action.
Most published checklists assume that they will be executed under the worst possible conditions, and so are created to try to anticipate a person’s behavior under that stress.
While a published checklist is a reasonable place to start, you should determine the kinds of checklists you need and then modify the contents of those checklists to meet the specific needs and conditions of your family and situation.
Checklist resources: information about creating checklists:
Dress for Survival/Wildfire Evacuation Checklist
A list of what to wear when evacuating and a general checklist for evacuation. This article assumes that you will be evacuating while surrounded by embers and perhaps flames.
Prepare Your Wildfire Action Plan (see Steps 3 and 4)
General checklists for evacuation; a good place to start to create checklists specific to your family’s’ needs.
Wildfire Evacuation Checklist
A nice one-page summary of all the things to consider in planning for an evacuation. This is a very good document to use as the base for your own personalized checklist. Eliminate the items here that you don’t need and add items that pertain to you.
A book about checklists (general topic, not wildfire):
Gawande, Atul, 2011, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, Picador, 240p.