Old Trails Fire · Spokane recovery · 2026
You survived the fire. Now survive the claim.
I'm a Washington-licensed public adjuster. I've spent 21 years working catastrophic property claims — including the Lahaina fires and the Medical Lake fire — and I'm helping Spokane families now. This page is what I'd tell you across the kitchen table — free, whether or not we ever work together.
This week
Six things to do before anything else
None of these require hiring anyone. Do them now — they protect your claim no matter who helps you later.
Get a certified copy of your policy
Request the full policy with all endorsements from your agent or carrier, in writing. Not the declarations page — the whole thing.
Open the claim, but keep it brief
Report the loss promptly. You are not required to give a recorded statement on the spot — it's fine to say you'll follow up.
Start an ALE file today
Every receipt while displaced — hotel, meals, mileage, pet boarding — is potentially covered Additional Living Expense. Keep everything.
Photograph and touch nothing
Document the property as it sits before any cleanup. Debris removal can destroy evidence your claim needs.
Ask for an advance
Most policies allow an advance on contents and ALE. You can request one now — it doesn't settle or close anything.
Don't sign settlements or contracts under pressure
Not the carrier's early offer, not a contractor's assignment of benefits, not an adjusting contract in a parking lot. Nothing legitimate expires tonight.
Before you sign anything
The firms knocking on doors this week won't all be here next year.
After Lahaina, out-of-state adjusting firms signed families by the hundred. I watched what happened eighteen months later: unreturned calls, files handed between case managers, clients abandoned mid-claim when the firm chased the next disaster. It will happen in Spokane too.
You don't have to hire me. But whoever you hire — make them pass this list first.
The full 8-question checklist →
Lahaina, 2023 — taken on the ground by a member of my team at the time.
Vehicles burned in the fire
The total loss offer on your car will probably be low, too.
After a disaster, carriers total hundreds of vehicles at once with valuation reports nobody checks. You can dispute the number — and vehicle valuation disputes are where Claims.Coach started.
Free consultation
Bring me your policy. Leave with a plan.
Thirty minutes, free, no obligation. We'll read your policy together and map out your claim — even if you never hire anyone.
info@claims.coach