Fire Claims Los Angeles Documentation Builder & Loss Estimator
OttoFire Claims Los Angeles Documentation Builder & Loss Estimator
A free, browser-based worksheet for Los Angeles homeowners who need to file an insurance claim after a wildfire, brush fire, or structure fire. Build your evidence checklist, estimate replacement value, and export a clean summary you can hand to your adjuster.
1) Estimate your loss
Rough planning numbers only. Real settlements depend on your policy limits, sub-limits, and documentation. Estimates use replacement-cost ranges typical for the LA basin in 2025–2026.
2) Evidence checklist for your fire claim
Check items as you collect them. The bar shows how documentation-ready your file is — adjusters approve faster claims that are organized, dated, and photographed.
3) Fire claim timeline that actually applies in California
Day 0–3 Notify insurer in writing. Request advance for ALE.
California Insurance Code §2051.5 entitles you to advance payments for additional living expenses and contents after a declared disaster. Ask in writing; keep the confirmation.
Week 1–2 Document everything before cleanup.
Photo every room from four corners. Video walk-through. List contents room-by-room with approximate purchase year and cost. Do not throw out debris before the adjuster inspects unless authorized in writing.
Week 2–6 First adjuster meeting and proof of loss.
You generally have 60 days from the insurer's request to submit a sworn proof of loss in California. Extensions are routine after a state of emergency — request them in writing.
Month 2–6 Scope disputes and supplements.
Most fire claims involve at least one supplement. Common disagreements: smoke and soot remediation, code-upgrade coverage, matching of undamaged materials, and depreciation on partial losses.
Month 6–36 Rebuild & recoverable depreciation.
California gives policyholders up to 36 months to rebuild and collect recoverable depreciation after a declared disaster (Ins. Code §2051.5(b)(2)).
4) Export your claim summary
How to actually use this fire claims Los Angeles worksheet
If you have just been displaced by a fire in the Los Angeles area, the days that follow tend to blur together. Phone calls from your insurer, restoration vendors knocking on your hotel door, friends offering to help — and underneath all of it, a creeping sense that the numbers you are about to write down will define the next two or three years of your life. This worksheet exists for that exact moment. It is not a substitute for your policy, your adjuster, or qualified counsel; it is the equivalent of a clean legal pad you can fill out at the kitchen table, save in your phone, and walk into your next meeting with something that looks like a plan.
Start with structure, contents, and ALE — in that order
The estimator above separates the loss into the four buckets every California homeowner's policy treats differently: dwelling (Coverage A), other structures (Coverage B), personal contents (Coverage C), and additional living expense (Coverage D). Building grade matters more than people expect. A standard 1,800-square-foot Los Angeles home that cost $700,000 in 2014 can easily cost $675,000 to rebuild in 2026 once you add debris removal, code upgrades, and the labor premium that follows every declared wildfire. If your dwelling limit looks dramatically lower than the estimator output, that is a flag — not necessarily a fight, but a flag — to raise with your agent before the proof of loss is final.
Document before you clean
The single biggest mistake we see on Los Angeles fire claims is well-meaning early cleanup. Insureds shovel ash, bag soot-coated clothing, or let a restoration vendor haul away a kitchen before anyone has scoped the loss. Smoke and soot remediation alone is often a five-figure line item; ash on the HVAC system can be a separate one. Photographs, video, and dated lists made before any of that disappears are what turn a contested supplement into a paid one. The checklist in section 2 is ordered to make that easier: insurer notice, then evidence, then estimates, then supporting policy items like declarations pages and endorsements.
Watch the deadlines, ask for extensions in writing
California gives fire survivors meaningful statutory protections — twelve months of ALE that can be extended to twenty-four, a 36-month window to rebuild and recover depreciation, advance payments during declared disasters — but those protections only help if you ask for them in writing and keep the confirmations. The timeline in section 3 covers the milestones most LA-area fire claims pass through, from the §2051.5 advance request in the first 72 hours to the last recoverable-depreciation invoice three years later. When something feels off — a lowball scope, a denied supplement, or pressure to sign a release in exchange for a partial check — that is usually the moment to bring in a public adjuster or an attorney who handles homeowner fire damage claims in California. Use this worksheet to get organized; use a professional to push back when the numbers do not match what you actually lost.
