After a fire, the hardest question is “what now?”
This is a calm, ordered walk through the year after a wildfire: the insurance claim, the paperwork, and the decisions. You do one small step at a time, and the guide keeps your place.
Free · Works before you sign in · No sales callsWhat this is
A checklist and a translator for the months ahead. Nothing to buy, and nobody will call you.
- A checklist. Every step that comes after a fire, laid out in order, so you always know the next thing to do.
- A translator. Insurance and claim words in plain English: replacement cost, ALE, depreciation, the claim clock.
- Free, and yours. It works before you sign in. Add an email if you want it kept across your phone and computer, or if you want to keep your documents and photos here alongside it. Those are the only reasons we ask, and we will not call you.
Start where you are
There is no wrong place to begin. Pick what is true for you and the guide opens at the right step.
Replacing documents lost in the fire
Where to ask for a new copy of the papers that burned. Every link below goes to an official government page. There is no order you have to do these in.
Some of these records are kept by your state or your county rather than by the federal government, so the office you need depends on where you live and, for a birth certificate, where you were born. Where that is the case we link the official national directory first, and add the California office because that is where we are.
-
Mail
If you are staying somewhere else, the Postal Service can forward your mail or hold it. Change your address only on the Postal Service’s own site — other sites charge a fee to file the same free form.
-
Birth certificate
Birth certificates come from the state where the birth happened, not from the federal government and not from the state you live in now. The CDC keeps the list of every state’s vital records office, with its address, fee, and phone number.
-
Social Security card
A replacement card is free, and in many cases you can apply online. If you already know your number, you often do not need the card itself.
-
Property deed
There is no national register of deeds. Your deed was recorded by the county (in some states, the parish or town) where the property sits, and that office still holds the official copy — losing your paper copy does not affect your ownership. Ask the county recorder, clerk, or register of deeds for a certified copy.
-
Driver’s licence or state ID
Replacements are handled by your own state’s motor vehicle agency, and the rules and fees differ from state to state. USA.gov links to every one of them.
Two federal pages cover all of the above in one place, along with passports, green cards, and military records: FEMA · Replacing vital documents ↗ and USA.gov · How to replace lost or stolen ID cards ↗.
Who made this, and why
We are Sierra Log & Timber, a log and timber home mill in Chico, California. We have watched our own neighbors go through wildfire, and we watched how easy it is to lose weeks just trying to figure out what to do first.
So we wrote down the path. This guide is our way of being useful in the part of recovery that comes long before anyone thinks about building. We are not asking you to build with us. If the day ever comes that you want to talk about rebuilding, you know where we are, and until then this is simply here to help.
What this isn’t
We build homes. We are not lawyers, insurance agents, or public adjusters, and nothing here is legal, insurance, or financial advice. Your policy and your rights are specific to you. For real help, at no cost, start with these: