California wildfire public adjuster for smoke, ash and total-loss claims

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Who we help

We represent residential and commercial policyholders on California wildfire claims, including:

• Homeowners whose house is still standing but has smoke and ash damage, and owners facing a total loss
• Owners of second homes and absentee owners who found the damage weeks after the fire
• Landlords and business and commercial property owners

We can help whether your claim is new, stalled, underpaid or already denied.

The public adjusters who handle your claim

Delano Howell, founder and public adjuster

A Stanford University graduate and former NFL starting safety with the Indianapolis Colts, Delano has eight years of adjusting experience advocating for policyholders.

Randy Gower, public adjuster, appraiser and umpire

Nearly 30 years in adjusting: Claim Supervisor with COUNTRY Financial over seven offices in Oregon and Washington, more than 17 years as an Executive Adjuster with Adjusters International, and owner of Gower Adjusting and Appraisal Services since 2000.

Every client gets a dedicated claim adjuster, so you always know who is handling your file. Meet the team or verify our California license.

See all recent claims

How we handle your claim

1. Inspect and document. We document the loss before anything is cleaned, cleared or repaired, and scope the structure, including smoke and ash damage away from the burn.
2. Price the loss. We build the contents inventory rather than handing you a blank spreadsheet, and include other structures, landscaping and site damage from the start.
3. Review the policy. We read your declarations page with you and set out in plain terms what it provides for the structure, contents, other structures and additional living expenses. Some homeowners are on standard carriers, some on surplus lines and some on a plan of last resort with narrower cover.
4. Negotiate. We track additional living expenses, present them properly and deal with the carrier, so that you are not negotiating while you are rebuilding a life.
5. Settle. Our fee is a percentage of your claim, paid only when you are paid. There are no up-front or hidden fees.

What insurers dispute on wildfire claims

How far did the smoke and ash damage reach?

Most wildfire claims we see involve a house that is still standing. Smoke travels, ash settles, and both get into insulation, ductwork, soft furnishings and the building envelope. The disagreement is almost never about whether the fire happened; it is about how far its effects reached and what putting it right actually involves. That is won with testing and documentation: which surfaces were sampled, what the results showed, and whether cleaning restores a material or it has to be replaced. Read smoke damage claims after a fire.

What if nobody has a contents list?

After a total loss the insurer asks for an inventory of everything that was in the house. Almost nobody has one, and reconstructing it under time pressure is where the most money is quietly lost. We rebuild it room by room, category by category, with photographs, purchase records and delivery histories. A generic list settles for less than a specific one, every time. Read why a generic inventory list costs you thousands.

How long will additional living expenses be paid?

While the property is uninhabitable, most policies provide for the additional cost of living elsewhere. In a wildfire this matters more than usual: whole neighborhoods are displaced at once, rental supply is short and the accommodation available often costs more than what was lost. Keep every receipt from the first day. What your policy provides, and for how long, is set out in your own documents.

Are fences, landscaping and outbuildings covered?

Wildfire losses extend past the walls: fences, decking, retaining walls, irrigation, pool equipment, outbuildings, driveways damaged by heat or by firefighting equipment, and mature landscaping. These are frequently under-claimed because they sit in a part of the policy people rarely read. They belong in the claim from the start. Read our guide to fire damage claims in California.

Where we work

Our wildfire work is in California, where the California Department of Insurance licenses public adjusters and helps consumers with insurance problems. We also represent policyholders in Oregon and Washington, where the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation and the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner do the same.

The wildfire work on this side of our practice concentrates in the foothill and canyon communities of Southern California – Malibu, Calabasas, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, Glendale, Sierra Madre, Santa Monica, Irvine and Fullerton among them – and in the mountain and high-desert markets where the exposure is different again.

Those are also markets with a high proportion of second homes and absentee owners, where damage may be discovered weeks after the event. A delay in discovery is not the same as a delay in reporting, and it is worth getting that distinction right in writing early.

See our California public adjuster services. We also handle fire damage claims, water damage claims, storm damage claims and vandalism and theft claims in California, Oregon and Washington.

Wildfire claim questions