O.C. Fire Victims Struggle to Tally Losses : Claims: Residents now face the monumental task of piecing together lists of their possessions.

Eric and Ann Hausen fall asleep each night with paper and pencils beside their bed, “in case we wake up at 3 a.m., grieving for something,” she said.

Like hundreds of refugees from the Southland’s recent firestorms, the Hausens are jarred awake by sudden bittersweet memories of the possessions that vanished with their home.

By jotting down the recollections, they are piecing together inventories in hopes of getting enough money from their insurance companies to fully rebuild their homes and lives.

The task confronting fire victims is monumental.

“This is much more difficult than going through the fire. This is the true disaster,” said Ina De Long, founder and president of United Policyholders, a consumer advocacy group based in Oakland.

With many homes incinerated to ashes by the flames, their owners are scurrying in search of architectural and construction plans. They are walking along the concrete foundations--usually all that remain of their homes--trying to re-create a mental picture of each room, including doorways and windows, and all of the contents. They are painstakingly conjuring images of the items in their lives, ranging from antiques and fine paintings to baseball card collections and wedding presents tucked for years in the back of closets.

They are also asking friends and relatives to send them snapshots taken at their houses. Those who saved albums and drawers full of pictures for sentimental reasons in the final minutes before their evacuation are discovering they have practical value as documentaries of their possessions and, even more importantly, their lifestyle.

“The insurance company is asking for the name of the item, when you purchased it and how much it cost and where a similar item can be bought today,” said Durk Buffington, who lost his home. “It sounds like an overwhelming process for a whole household.”

Insurance carriers express sympathy for the plight of the fire victims and promise that in most cases they will take clients at their word. But they also acknowledge that giving a thorough account of lost possessions can be required for claiming the maximum allotted on homeowners’ policies.

Also, receipts or affidavits from witnesses or salespeople or photographs may be necessary, some insurance officials said, to prove ownership of exceptionally valuable items--especially if they are claimed by a family with a modest income.

“I would say whether you are talking about contents or the home itself . . . it takes a tremendous amount of judgment on the claim adjuster’s part about what is reasonable,” said Gail Monture, a claims consultant for State Farm.

But some insurance companies have a bad image to overcome.

De Long complained that after the devastating Oakland Hills fire two years ago, there was no consistency in how customers of the same insurers were treated.

Generally, she contended, “your white male, professional, middle-aged, assertive claimant will get the best treatment and your senior citizen, female minority will get the worst.”

De Long advises the fire victims to list everything they have on forms provided by insurance adjusters “down to the toothpick,” even though that may require hundreds of pages of documentation.

She also recommends that fire victims hire their own contractors to determine the cost of rebuilding their homes and do their own legwork to establish the cost of replacing their belongings.

Estimators hired by insurance carriers, she warned, tend to low-ball construction costs, and the services that they employ to replace home contents at the lowest possible prices may not provide products that exactly match the description or quality of what was lost.

Insurance companies aside, the quest for pictures, plans and other documentation is going full tilt in Laguna Beach.

Lynn Muir, an architect who designed many homes in the badly hit Mystic Hills area, said he has been providing copies of his drawings, which are up to 30 years old, to fire victims.

Not all fire victims are lucky enough to find architects or builders who saved their blueprints or remodeling plans.

Moreover, John Gustafson, a building official for Laguna Beach, said all residential building plans approved by the city, with the exception of those filed within the last two years, were discarded at City Hall for lack of space.

Yet even when building plans are discovered, not all fears dissolve.

Bob Smith, 42, said although he “miraculously” found the design plans for his family’s custom house when he was sifting through the ruins, he worries that he may have trouble convincing insurance adjusters about the many extras he put into its construction.

“It is a lath and plaster house in the old style with custom cabinetry and antique marble countertops and mantels,” he said of the house, only a shell of which still stands.

His wife, Tamara Thornton Smith, said “the word is out” that she wants friends to send her whatever pictures they have taken in the house. She expects to get a lot, she said, since the house was the scene of three wedding celebrations.

Another fire victim, Mary Holland, said she learned to her relief that two boxes of photographs she salvaged before her Laguna Beach home burned show various features of the house that she loved, including a Venetian glass chandelier.

A picture taken during Christmas dinner, she said, documents her crystal glassware and English bone china.

After the fires, the most envied victims are those who had the foresight to make a detailed household inventory and take pictures or, better yet, videotapes of their homes and belongings that they stashed in a bank vault or someone else’s home.

“We preach all the time the best possible thing in the world is a videotape,” said Mike Blalock, a sales agent for Farmers Insurance in Laguna Beach. But he said he knew of “zero” Farmers claimants who possess such a tape.

“One policyholder had done a video and took it to his safe deposit box,” Blalock said. “But when he found it didn’t fit in the box, he took it home and it burned up.”

Some Laguna Beach residents, as a last gesture before evacuating, ran through their homes with a video camera rolling. For others, the thought came a tad late.

“I was going to grab the video camera and take pictures of the house when I saw the flames were at the balcony,” said Ann Hausen.

Even if most or all household items are remembered, many burned-out Laguna Beach residents will discover they are underinsured for the contents of their homes, De Long believes.

Basic insurance policies generally will depreciate the value of furnishings, clothing and other items for the time since they were purchased. So the insurance money collected may be far less than what is needed to replace former belongings at today’s retail prices, she said.

And even though most homeowners purchase additional insurance that guarantees replacement of household belongings at today’s prices, De Long said, they are likely to find that their limits are too low.

While some fire victims already have accepted checks for the maximum insurance limits on their household belongings, De Long said those who find they need more money to replace their possessions should hold out for more.

In fact, spokesmen for State Farm and Farmers Insurance said they are raising the limits on content coverage for holders of certain policies that guarantee replacement costs.

Customers who discover they must spend more than the face value of their policy to rebuild their houses will have their content coverage raised proportionately, according to Melinda Black, a manager for Farmers Insurance. A State Farm representative said that firm would do the same.

Pat and Gene Cooper said they already accepted a $157,000 check from State Farm for the contents of their Laguna Beach house, which they said was the limit of their policy.

But the Coopers said they believe it will take about $50,000 more to replace their valuables, including an extensive art collection.

So the couple said they will continue trying to itemize their losses--which will involve contacting art galleries and dealers--in hopes of qualifying for a federal loan to cover the shortfall.

Gene Cooper, an art history professor at Cal State Long Beach, noted that many of the art pieces destroyed in the flames “can’t be replaced anyway. . . . Those collections are not made overnight. They are objects that come into your life when you don’t expect them. The biggest losses are memories.”

Taking Stock

Here’s how to survey your possessions, a process that takes on primary importance in the event of disaster:

* Make a photo inventory both inside and outside. Inside, pay extra attention to expensive and unique items. For example, spread sterling silver on a table and photograph with all serving pieces. On the back of the pictures identify items by brand, approximate value and date of purchase. Outside, photograph the exterior of the house and landscaping, especially valuable plants.

* Videotape the house, slowly showing each room and its contents, including closets, while providing a narrative of what is being shown.

* List valuable jewelry separately on insurance policies; photograph and inventory with specific descriptions. Photographs should be kept with receipts and appraisals.

* Do a written inventory of everything in the house and garage, particularly items not videotaped or photographed. List contents of wardrobes, such as numbers of pairs of shoes, ties and coats. In the garage, list bicycles, garden and power tools and anything else you would want replaced.

* Place all documentation in your bank safe deposit box or some other safe, fireproof place away from your home; include insurance company, policy number and business card of your agent.

Source: Michael Yeargin, representing the Independent Agents and Brokers of Orange County