What to Do After a House Fire: A Step-by-Step Checklist
In the days after a house fire, a clear checklist matters more than anything. These are the steps that protect your safety and your insurance claim — including the one most people get wrong: don't throw anything away until it's documented.
What to do after a house fire
- Make sure everyone is safe and don't re-enter until the fire department says it's safe.
- Contact your insurance company as soon as you can to open a claim and ask about emergency living expenses.
- Get the fire report from the fire department — your insurer will ask for it.
- Secure the property against further damage or theft; keep receipts for anything you spend.
- Document the damage thoroughly with photos before you clean up or discard anything.
- Make a room-by-room list of destroyed and damaged belongings with values — this is your contents claim.
- Keep every receipt for temporary housing, meals and replacement essentials for reimbursement.
Don't discard damaged items until your adjuster has seen or documented them. Throwing out fire-damaged belongings before they're recorded can reduce or void that part of your claim. Photograph everything first.
The contents side of a fire claim is where most money is lost — because reconstructing everything you owned from memory, under stress, is nearly impossible. This is why a home inventory made in advance is so valuable: if you already have a photo record of your belongings, the hardest part of the claim is done before the fire ever happened.
Homivo is built for that moment: a private, offline photo inventory of everything you own, with values and room totals, that exports a claim-ready PDF you can hand straight to your adjuster. Kept on your iPhone, it's a record you make once and have ready if the worst happens.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do first after a house fire?
Make sure everyone is safe, don't re-enter until it's cleared, then contact your insurer to open a claim and ask about emergency living expenses. Get the fire department's report.
How do I prove my belongings for a fire insurance claim?
With a room-by-room list of what was lost, each item's value, and photos. A home inventory made before the fire is ideal; if you don't have one, document the remains thoroughly before discarding anything.
Should I throw away fire-damaged items?
Not until your adjuster has seen or you've documented them with photos. Discarding damaged belongings too early can reduce that part of your claim.