After a house fire in Los Angeles: the first hour, the claim and the restoration company

1. If you smell gas, touch no switches or anything electrical. Leave, and from outside call SoCalGas at 1-800-427-2200 or 911. Do not turn the gas back on yourself. If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds or anyone feels dizzy or sick, everyone out, and call 911 from outside.
2. Leave the power off until the wiring is inspected. If it is still on, ask the fire crew to cut it. The panel is the gray metal box with rows of switches, on an outside wall or in the garage. If the crew has gone, switch off the main breaker only if the panel is dry and you can reach it without standing in water or entering the building. If water drips from a light fixture or fan, nobody stands under it.
3. Stay out until the fire department or your city's building department says the building is safe.
4. Photograph every room and write down the date before anything is moved or cleaned. Throw nothing away until the adjuster, the person your insurer sends to inspect and value the damage, says so. Do not clean soot or run the heating or air conditioning.
5. Wildfire ash in a home that did not burn: do not clean anything yet; see the last question below.
6. Before the crew leaves, ask for the incident number and any medicine or documents you need; call your insurer with the number. Ask whether the policy pays additional living expenses: a hotel, meals and other costs while you cannot live at home. Keep every receipt.

1. Your insurer, to open the claim.
2. A restoration company. It boards up, tarps the roof, removes water and dries the house. Then it cleans soot, packs out your belongings (moves them out for cleaning and storage) and treats odor. Get its written scope, the list of what it will test and clean.
3. A licensed general building contractor for the rebuild.
4. The building department, for permits: in the City of Los Angeles, the Department of Building and Safety. Long Beach, Torrance, Santa Monica and most other cities have their own.
5. The utilities, last. SoCalGas inspects the piping and appliances before turning the meter on. In the City of Los Angeles, LADWP turns the power back on to repaired wiring only after the Department of Building and Safety inspects and approves it.

Go to cslb.ca.gov, the Contractors State License Board, and open Check a License. Search by license number or business name; a number on a truck or card does not prove the license is valid.

The record shows:

• Status and bond: current and active, with a bond on file, money a harmed customer can claim against.
• Classifications, the kinds of work the license allows. There is no class for fire or smoke restoration; any job costing $1,000 or more, or needing a permit, needs a license covering the work. B, General Building, covers the rebuild; C-22, asbestos removal.
• Workers' compensation. A contractor with employees must carry it, even for one; one with none may file an exemption, unless its class must carry it anyway, as C-22 must.
• Complaint disclosure: complaints that led to a citation or legal referral; the board calls these allegations, and an empty section is not proof of a clean history.

Ask to see the pocket license, the wallet card the board issues, and photo ID; match the name to the record.

By law the contract must show the contractor's name, business address, email address and license number. It must describe the work and significant materials and give the price and approximate start and completion dates. It must also show the down payment, if any, and a schedule of any progress payments tied to specific work. The down payment cannot exceed $1,000 or 10 percent of the price, whichever is less, and later payments cannot run ahead of the work. Any change needs a change order, a written addition you both sign. For rebuilding after a declared disaster, the board says the contract must be fixed price.

Red flags:

• A license number that belongs to someone else.
• Cash only, no written contract, or a deposit above the legal cap.
• Door-to-door offers or fliers after a fire, which the board's disaster guide warns about.
• Cutting into pre-1980 walls without asking about asbestos.

1. Report the loss. Ask for a complete copy of the policy with the declarations page, the summary of your coverage limits; state law requires it free within 30 calendar days. Keep a claim diary: who, when, what was said.
2. Prevent further damage and keep the receipts. The California Department of Insurance says the insurer reimburses reasonable protection costs. If you skip reasonable steps, the policy may not cover the damage that follows. Hold extensive permanent repairs until the adjuster has assessed the damage.
3. The adjuster may first walk the property to note damage, then return with an estimate. If something is called excluded or limited, ask which part of the policy says so; a denial must be in writing and cite it.
4. Ask for the insurer's written estimate; state regulations require it to give you every document the settlement rests on. Get a licensed contractor's estimate too. If yours is higher, the insurer must pay the difference, name a contractor who will do the work for its figure if you ask, or adjust your estimate in writing.
5. If the claim stalls, raise it with the insurer's claims manager, then call the Department of Insurance hotline at 1-800-927-4357 or file a Request for Assistance at insurance.ca.gov.
6. After a declared state of emergency, state insurance law adds rights; which apply depends on conditions and your date of loss.

• Additional living expenses run at least 24 months from the loss, with up to 12 more for delays beyond your control.
• After a total loss, the insurer must advance at least four months of living expenses on request.
• After a total loss of a furnished home you lived in, it must offer part of the contents limit (the policy's limit for belongings) without a list of items. The offer is capped by state law. You can itemize later for more. For a loss on or after January 1, 2026, that is at least 60 percent. For an earlier loss, including the January 2025 fires, it was 30 percent of the limit for the house itself.
• Proof of loss, the signed form stating your claim, cannot be required within 100 days of the loss; this took effect January 1, 2026.

The cleaning estimate should list:

• Emergency work: board-up, roof tarp, water removal, and drying equipment by unit and day with a moisture log, the daily dryness readings.
• Cleaning, room by room, by kind of residue, since loose dry soot and bonded or oily films take different methods, and whether ducts are included.
• Odor treatment last, after the sources are gone. With ozone, an odor-killing gas, people, pets and plants stay out while it runs; the EPA warns it is harmful to breathe. Ask how long the house will air.

In a home built before about 1980, and sometimes later, several materials can contain asbestos: joint compound, textured paint, plaster, acoustic ceilings, floor tile and pipe or furnace insulation. Only a lab test tells, so sampling comes before cutting. The South Coast Air Quality Management District requires an asbestos survey before most renovation or demolition by a contractor, whatever the home's age. The survey is done by a Cal/OSHA Certified Asbestos Consultant or a technician under one. Federal rules require a firm paid to disturb pre-1978 paint beyond a small patch to hold the EPA's certification for lead paint work; untested paint is treated as lead paint.

The rebuild estimate names each permit and who applies for it.

Then check four things in the contract:

• Allowances: items not yet chosen, with the amount set aside for each.
• Exclusions: what the price does not cover.
• Warranties: what is covered, for how long, by whom.
• Cancellation rights: three business days for a contract signed at your home, five if you are 65 or older, seven for declared disaster repairs.

• What is your license number, and does the business name match the state record?
• Do you carry workers' compensation, and will you send the certificate?
• Are your technicians certified by the IICRC, the restoration standards body, and for a house fire do you follow its S700 standard? For wildfire smoke, which written protocol, since S700 excludes wildfires?
• Who surveys for asbestos and tests for lead paint before anything is disturbed?
• Who applies for each permit, and when are the electrical and gas inspections?
• What happens if the smell returns after odor treatment?