The first 48 hours after a house fire

First: your family's safety, somewhere to stay, and a breath. The claim can wait a few hours. But the first two days do shape what happens next. Here's how to use them well.

Hour one to twelve

• Don't re-enter until the fire department clears the structure. Nothing in the claim is worth an unsafe building.
• Find somewhere to stay tonight. The American Red Cross helps families after home fires with emergency lodging, meals, clothing and replacement medication. Call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
• Notify your insurance company that a loss occurred. Report the basic facts: what, when, where. You don't need to estimate damage or give a recorded statement on day one.
• Keep every receipt: hotel, meals, clothes, essentials. Additional living expense coverage typically reimburses these, but only if they're documented.

Day one and two

• Photograph and video everything before anything is moved, cleaned, or thrown away. Wide shots of every room, close-ups of damage, the exterior from every side. You cannot over-document. Include the rooms the fire never reached, where smoke damage hides, and know that these photos are the start of your contents claim.
• Secure the property: board-up and tarping protect against further damage (your policy requires reasonable protection) and the costs are typically covered. Keep those receipts too.
• Locate your policy: the full document, not just the declarations page. If you can't find it, request a complete certified copy from your insurance company.
• Request the fire report from the department that responded. You'll usually need the address, the date and an incident number if you have one. It can take days or weeks to arrive.
• Start a claim log. Every call gets a line: the date, who you spoke with, what they said. Keep every letter and email in one place.

What not to sign

In the first 48 hours, people will appear at your door: restoration companies, contractors, sometimes within hours of the fire. Some are excellent. But be very careful with anything that assigns your insurance benefits to a contractor, locks you into one company's pricing, or authorizes broad work before the loss is documented. And never sign anything presented as a settlement or release this early. You can't yet know what the claim is worth, which means neither can the number on that paper.

For what restoration companies actually do, and how to work with one without signing away control of your claim, see Restoration company or public adjuster?

The mistake that costs the most

Letting cleanup get ahead of documentation. Once debris is hauled away and walls are scrubbed, the evidence of your loss goes with it. Document first, then mitigate properly, and finally, after the full loss is on the record, present the claim.