For years, Rob Johns has seen families watching their possessions go up in smoke.
At 80 per cent of these fires, people don’t have apartment insurance or the means to rebuild their lives, said Johns, emergency co-ordinator for the Victoria Emergency Management Agency.
“After going to so many fires, I know that people who have insurance recover faster and are not as stressed in those first few days as people who don’t,” Johns said. “The best outcome, always, is when people have insurance.”
VEMA’s volunteer-based evacuee assistance team provides immediate assistance to people who are displaced by fires, gas leaks or spills of hazardous material. The City of Victoria funds the program, paying for equipment, some training and a manager to run the team.
The province, through Emergency Management B.C., provides standardized training and pays for the costs of emergency response such as lodging, food and clothing.
“Our goal is to assess where people’s needs are and then try and find them a place to stay,” Johns said. “Sometimes, it’s connecting with a family. Sometimes, it’s putting them in a hotel or connecting them with a shelter. We make sure they have food and basic clothing so they’ve got a change or two of clothing.”
The program assists people for three days. It gives displaced people time to figure out what they’re going to do next and connect with their insurance company, provincial government ministries or relatives and friends, Johns said.
Basic content insurance, which costs between $25 and $40 a month, pays for living expenses when people are displaced, Johns said. It also pays to replace clothing, bedding and furniture.
“We come across a lot of people who don’t have insurance and they are often starting from scratch. They have to buy a new bed, bedding, new clothing, all those things most of us take for granted.”
People who own a house are required by their mortgage company to have insurance. The owners of buildings usually have insurance, but those who rent condos, apartments or houses, often do not.
“But you actually have the option on whether you have content and liability insurance for an individual suite,” Johns said. “If you’re renting a house or a condo, apartment or townhouse, then you should be looking at liability and loss insurance for contents.”
People don’t get insurance for a variety of reasons, he said. Some think they’ll never need it. Others don’t realize replacing their belongings can be so expensive.
“People make their own decisions, but at least they should be armed with the facts and understand what’s available,” Johns said.
