Fire Damage Insurance Claim Tips for Texas Homeowners

After a house fire, it's hard to know what to do first. These fire damage insurance claim tips are meant to help Texas homeowners organize the claim from the start: staying safe, notifying the insurer, documenting the damage, keeping receipts, and building a record of every conversation. None of them require special expertise. Most just require doing things in the right order and writing things down.

This isn't a cleanup guide, and it won't tell you how to repair or restore anything. It's about the insurance claim. For a broader look at what a fire claim usually includes, see our fire damage claims page.

Fire damage insurance claim tips at a glance

The sections below explain each tip.

1. Put safety first and follow fire officials

Your claim can wait until the property is safe. Don't re-enter a fire-damaged home until the fire department or local officials say it's safe to do so, and follow any instructions they give about utilities, structural concerns, or restricted areas.

If you're allowed back in, go in with a purpose: to document, retrieve essentials, and secure the property. If officials restrict access, note the date and who told you, because it may explain later why photos or an inventory were delayed.

Ask the responding fire department how to get a copy of the incident report and write down the incident number. Procedures vary by department, so ask rather than assume.

2. Notify your insurer promptly

Most property policies require prompt notice of a loss. Call your insurer or agent as soon as you reasonably can, and follow the call with a short email so there's a written record of the date you reported.

When you report, ask for:

• The claim number
• The name and contact information of the assigned adjuster
• A complete copy of your policy, including all endorsements
• What the insurer needs from you next, and how to submit it
• Whether your policy includes additional living expenses or loss of use coverage, and how to submit those costs

You don't have to have every answer on that first call. You don't need to guess at the cause of the fire or estimate the damage. Report the facts you know and say you'll follow up with details.

3. Document the damage before anything changes

The condition of the property on day one is the hardest thing to reconstruct later. Before cleanup, board-up, or pack-out starts, take photos and video of everything you safely can.

A few habits make that documentation more useful:

• Walk through with video first. Narrate the room name as you enter it. Then take still photos.
• Photograph every room, not just the burned area. Smoke and soot travel. Include hallways, closets, the attic access, and rooms at the far end of the house.
• Capture wide, medium, and close-up shots. A wide shot shows the room; a close-up shows residue on a light switch, vent grille, or cabinet interior.
• Open doors and drawers. Closets, cabinets, and drawers often hold smoke-affected contents that no one sees on a quick walkthrough.
• Photograph labels and serial numbers on appliances and electronics when you can do so safely.
• Note odor. You can't photograph smell, so write down where it's strongest and whether it's present in rooms that look clean.

Back up the files the same day to cloud storage or email them to yourself. A phone lost or damaged in the chaos after a fire can take your only record with it.

Our page on soot damage claims explains why residue on surfaces can matter even when it looks minor.

4. Don't discard damaged items before they're documented

It's natural to want to throw out ruined belongings. Before you do, photograph each item and record what it is. Better yet, ask the adjuster whether they want to see certain items before they're discarded, and note their answer in your log.

This matters most for:

• Expensive items, such as electronics, appliances, furniture, and jewelry
• Items with brand names or model numbers you'll need for pricing
• Anything a restoration company proposes to clean rather than replace

If a restoration contractor packs out your contents, ask for a copy of their inventory and photos. Compare it against your own records later. If officials require removal of hazardous debris, document what you can before it goes and note who ordered the removal.

5. Keep every receipt, starting today

Keep receipts for money you spend because of the fire. You may not know yet which costs your policy covers, and it's much easier to keep a receipt you don't need than to recreate one you do.

Common categories include:

• Emergency measures: board-up, tarping, fencing, or security, which many policies expect you to take reasonable steps on to protect the property from further damage
• Temporary housing: hotel, short-term rental, or apartment costs
• Meals above what you'd normally spend at home
• Extra mileage from a longer commute or school run
• Laundry and dry cleaning of clothing you're still using
• Replacement essentials: toiletries, medications, clothing, phone chargers
• Pet boarding if you can't keep pets in temporary housing
• Storage fees for items moved off-site

Photograph each paper receipt as soon as you get it. Paper fades and gets lost. Name the photo with the date and the category, such as "2026-09-30 hotel.jpg."

6. Keep a separate record for living expenses

If your policy includes additional living expenses (ALE) or loss of use coverage, those costs are usually evaluated separately from the building and contents. Many policies measure ALE as the increase over your normal living costs, so the insurer may ask what you normally spend.

A simple ALE record has these columns:

Submit ALE expenses in regular batches rather than all at the end, and keep a copy of each batch. Ask the adjuster how they prefer to receive them. Whether and how long ALE applies depends on your policy and the facts of your loss.

7. Start a communication log

Every fire claim involves many conversations: the insurer's adjuster, a field inspector, restoration companies, contractors, your mortgage company, and sometimes a landlord or HOA. Memory isn't reliable under stress.

Keep a single log, in a notebook or spreadsheet, with:

• Date and time
• Who you spoke with, their role, and contact details
• How you communicated (phone, email, in person)
• What was discussed or requested
• What you agreed to do, and by when
• What they agreed to do, and by when

After an important phone call, send a short, polite email summarizing it: "Thanks for speaking with me today. My understanding is that you'll send the inspection report by Friday and that I should submit hotel receipts weekly." This creates a written record and gives the other person a chance to correct anything you misunderstood.

8. Read your policy, including the parts that aren't obvious

Once you have the full policy, read the declarations page first to see your coverage parts, limits, and deductible. Then look for:

• The coverage for the dwelling, other structures, personal property, and loss of use
• Whether contents are valued at replacement cost or actual cash value
• Special limits for categories such as jewelry or collectibles
• The duties after loss section, which lists what the policy expects from you

If something is unclear, ask the insurer to explain it in writing. Our post on whether smoke damage is covered by insurance walks through how to read the smoke-related parts of a policy.

9. Build the contents inventory early

The contents list is often the most time-consuming part of a fire claim. Start early, even if you can only work on one room at a time. Our step-by-step guide on how to inventory fire-damaged contents covers the method in detail, and the contents RCV / ACV calculator shows how depreciation can affect an item's value.

10. Review the insurer's estimate line by line

When you receive an estimate, don't look only at the total. Check whether it includes every affected room, whether smoke damage beyond the burned area is addressed, and whether items like insulation, ductwork, and contents appear. If something seems to be missing, ask about it in writing. Our underpaid smoke damage claims page explains what to compare.

11. Know how Texas regulates public adjusters

If you decide to get help with your claim, it helps to know the basic rules. In Texas, a public adjuster must be licensed by the Texas Department of Insurance, and a public adjuster represents the insured, not the insurer.

A few rules homeowners often ask about:

• Contractors can't act as your adjuster. Texas law says a contractor may not act as a public adjuster or advertise to adjust claims for property on which it is providing or may provide contracting services.
• Public adjusters can't do the repairs. A licensed public adjuster may not participate in the reconstruction, repair, or restoration of property on a claim it is adjusting.
• Fees are capped. A Texas public adjuster's total commission may not exceed 10 percent of the insurance settlement on the claim, and TDI's rules include expenses within that cap.
• You can cancel within 72 hours. A Texas public adjuster contract must allow the insured to cancel by written notice within 72 hours of signing.
• You can check a license. TDI's Help Line at 800-252-3439 can confirm a license and complaint history.

Texas rules also require every public adjuster contract to state, in bold, that you don't have to enter into the contract to make a claim. More detail is on our Texas public adjuster rules page.

Smoke Damage Public Adjuster is operated by Rise Public Adjusting LLC, TDI License #3356839. We represent policyholders across Texas. We don't do cleaning, restoration, or construction work.

Frequently asked questions