(Photo: Fire victims attended a Town Hall meeting in Ranco Bernardo Monday night, to ask questions and receive information from the mayor and insurance commissioner. Alison St John/KPBS )
Scores of Rancho Bernardo residents who lost their homes in the fires showed up to a Town Hall meeting last night with San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. Some were angry, others were anxious, but all were sobered by the thought of the long road ahead to recovery. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.
Dozens of people raised their hands when the question was asked how many of you have lost your homes? Some of them nearly lost their lives as well.
Before getting down to the business of discussing insurance claims, they peppered Mayor Jerry Sanders with questions. Why didn't he warn them to evacuate that first night, instead of leaving them to flee their homes early next morning with mere minutes to spare?
Attendee: I had no 9-1-1 call. Why weren't we voluntarily evacuated? Get out! People would've burned up people were sleeping.
Sanders: I will just tell you we had police going up and down streets we had fire fighters breaking down doors. I apologize to people who didn't have adequate warning but we did the best we could.
Sanders steered the meeting to look ahead to recovery. He said the city will waive fees for demolition and reconstruction. Plus, he said San Diego is considering following the example of the Lake Tahoe community, which contracted with one licensed demolition company to clear all the burned out properties after their big fire.
Sanders: They came in and did all the demolition, all the debris removal. What that did it made sure that nobody was coming in and taking advantage of individual homeowners, that takes one thing off the plate for people to have to do.
However the crowd groaned when Sanders warned it took a couple of months to demolish the 250 homes destroyed in the Lake Tahoe fires and closer to 360 homes burned down in Rancho Bernardo.
But State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner cautioned people not to be too hasty about moving forward. He advised people to get three quotes from contractors when it comes time to rebuild , and above all check their credentials
Poizner: Unfortunately, it's like clockwork, every time there s natural disasters in this state, these scam artists show up and try to rip off survivors and victims, so you all should be on the lookout for people who pretend to be insurance adjusters and who aren't unlicensed contractors.
Poizner said two people have already been arrested for fraud and he has agents, including plain clothes agents, out sleuthing for scam artists.
Probably the biggest issue for most homeowners is the question of whether the money they'll get from their insurance companies will cover the cost of rebuilding. Karen Reimus, who lost her home in the Cedar Fires, challenged Poizner on the question of who's to blame if it turns out someone is badly underinsured.
Reimus: So are you making a specific promise if the policy holder answered all the questions correctly and to the best of their knowledge at the point of sale of that insurance policy, that you will require hat insurance policy to adjust their limits upwards so that these people can rebuild their home?
Poizner: That's what I just said.
Reimus: Great! Hallelulia!
Poizner suggested homeowners will be in a good position to negotiate hard with their insurers.
Poizner: This time around, I suspect that most of the insurance companies - I've spoken to the CEOS -they don't want to have a major PR disaster on their hands on this one. The insurance companies are very healthy, they've done quite well in the California markets, so push them as far as you can, work with us the department of insurance we'll push them.
State officials said new laws have extended the amount of time victims will be awarded alternative living expenses from one year to two. And they talked about the grants available from FEMA and the Small Business Administration for those without enough insurance to rebuild.
Not everyone was dispirited about the long, slow process of recovery ahead. Some, like Trails resident Steve Sullins were optimistic. Sullins says he's not depressed -- in fact he feels lucky !
Sullins: Oh, No we made it out. Our son woke us up. We got my mother out. We got our two cats out. You can’t be luckier than that! And as far as the material in the house, ultimately we're better off without them. It's a new start, it's simplified my life real quick.
The meeting ended and residents drifted back out into the night to whatever temporary homes they have found, ready take face the next step into the unknown in the morning.
Alison St John KPBS News.
