Nuns Fire Insurance Claims Lawyers: Allstate, State Farm, Farmers

If your home was destroyed in the Nuns Fire in Northern California’s wine country, you and your family are likely displaced, living in temporary housing and wondering what happens next.

Filing a claim with your homeowners’ insurance company – most like with Farmers, Allstate or State Farm – will likely be one of the first things you do.  Be warned, however.  Especially in times of disasters, insurance companies are not looking after their policy holders best interests. In fact, many large insurance companies work to pay less than homes are worth to protect their bottom line.  Hiring an attorney can help you get fair treatment.

In addition, preliminary reports point to downed PG&E power lines as the catalyst for the massive wine country blaze.  If negligence on the part of PG&E is proven to be the cause of the Nuns Fire, your attorney will be able to secure compensation for your losses.

About the Nuns Fire

Six of the large Sonoma and Napa county fires consolidated and merged into what was called the Nuns Fire.  The Adobe, Norrbom, Patrick, Pressley and Oakmont Fires joined the original Nuns fire to threatening the community of Glen Ellen and areas of Sonoma all the way to Santa Rosa and burned more than 56,000 acres. At least two people have been killed with dozens more missing.
Initially threatening over 5000 homes, the Nuns Fire (along with the nearby Atlas fire) led to mandatory evacuations in Napa, Sonoma and Solano County:

Napa County

• Monticello Park
• Silverado Country Club
• Hardman / McKinley / Estee
• Circle Oaks
• Buhman Road
• Wild Horse Valley Road
• Silverado Trail
• Monteceto / Monte Vista

Sonoma County

• All of Glen Ellen
• Sonoma Mountain Road
• Enterprise Road
• Wall Road
• Cavedale Road
• Arnold Drive
• Solano County
• Upper and Lower Green Valley

What to Do If Your Home was Destroyed.

If you home was threatened by the Nuns Fire, head the evacuation calls.  Once the fire is contained and extinguished, only return to your home if it is deemed safe. Toxic materials and chemicals such as chlorine, asbestos, lead, plastics, batteries and paint can all be found in the ashes of burned homes. Do not sift through the ash.

1. Keep track of all your receipts.  Your evacuation costs like hotels, food, and other costs may be covered by your homeowners insurance.
2. Notify your insurance company.  The largest homeowners insurance providers in the Santa Rosa and wine country area are State Farm, Allstate and Farmers.  If one of these are your insurer, notify them that your home has been damaged or destroyed by the Nuns Fire.  You may have to begin filling out Proof of Loss paperwork.
3. Speak with an attorney.  All three of those major insurance companies, State Farm, Allstate and Farmers, have notorious histories of bad faith insurance practices.  They may have warm, catchy tag lines like : ‘like a good neighbor, State Farm is there’ and ‘Your in good hands with Allstate’, but to protect their bottom line, they will deny valid claims, delay payment and give policy holders the run around.
4. Begin documenting your possessions. In the best case scenario, you already have documentation of your possessions – preferably on video.  However, the sudden nature of the Nuns Fire may have eliminated the chance for homeowners to properly document what they owned.  In this case, searching through cloud based photo and video storage and combing through bank and credit card statements may be the only way to prove what was lost in the fire.

Dealing with Allstate, State Farm or Farmers after the Nuns Fire

We cannot stress enough how much can be on the line when dealing with these insurance companies.  Often, the simple act of hiring an attorney can raise the settlement offer by hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Doing so signals to these companies that they cannot treat you unfairly and that you are taking your fire claim seriously.  If you have lost your home, your possessions or a loved one to the Nuns Fire in Sonoma, Napa or Solano County, contact our experienced California wildfire attorneys today.  Let us deal with the insurance companies, while you put the pieces of your life back together.