Posted: 9:25 am Wednesday, Sep. 09, 2009

Updated: 11:30 am Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010

Victims of 49 fire start rebuilding their lives, piece by piece

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Dan and Sherry Jones now have two cell phones: one for family calls and another to deal with insurance assessors, contractors, banks and other agencies as they try to piece together their lives after the 49 fire destroyed their home a week ago.

A blizzard of agencies descended on Auburn after the fire near Highway 49 and Dry Creek Road destroyed 63 homes and three businesses. As the assessors, county officials and volunteers packed up their tents and service centers, the residents of North Park subdivision began the slow, full-time work of rebuilding their lives.

"We had the house paid off," Dan Jones, 61, said about their home of 32 years on Creekside Place. "This is where the kids were born and raised and where we planned to live until we leave this Earth. We're going to be back in it again."

Call The Bee's Julie Johnson, (916) 321-5287.

Before their services ended last week, volunteers from Red Cross vans called out on megaphones for residents to get water and supplies. Contractors walked from lot to lot handing out business cards and offering free quotes. Residents and hired laborers, sweating in the near 100-degree heat, pushed debris into piles.

The Jones' grown sons have been among the most diligent in the neighborhood digging through the remains of their home. Every day, they've searched for remnants of their father's military medals, coin collection and reminders of their childhood on Creekside Place. More than a dozen friends were on hold to show up with backhoes and dump trucks to clean the lot in preparation to rebuild once the county trash bins arrive.

Jones said when his insurance agent went over his policy, "it went in one ear and out the other."

"My wife and I are in a state of shock," he said. "They're ready to push money and have me sign on lines, but I'm just trying to be cautious."

Residents are wise to avoid quick decisions. The attorney general's office and other state agencies have issued warnings and tips to disaster victims since several fires struck the state last week.

"Once people start to get their insurance money, contractors come out of the woodwork," said Darrel Ng, spokesman with the California Department of Insurance.

Residents can check with the Contractors State License Board that contractors are properly licensed.

People who want to donate to disaster victims should be wary as well, according to the office of state Attorney General Jerry Brown, which has issued warnings about "sham charities" that take advantage of people who want to donate to disaster relief causes.

People should give donations through reputable charities, avoid e-mail solicitations and "be wary of appeals that are long on emotion but short on details about how the charity will help disaster victims," Brown's staff suggests.

Insurance policyholders should review their contracts carefully and contact the department's hotline if they have concerns. Ng said each year hundreds of insurance clients complain that insurance companies won't pay what they thought they were owed.

"That's why we encourage people to do home inventories, and that could be as simple as walking through with a video camera," Ng said.

Up the street from the Jones' cul-de-sac, Shonette and Jose Luis Calderon, both 42, stood near the remains of the home they rented on Oak Mist Lane.

The Calderons paid about $24 a month for their renters policy, which provides up to $56,000 in assistance funds, Shonette Calderon said.

"That's four mochas and a scone," Shonette Calderon said of their monthly premium.

Jose Luis Calderon said that $56,000 "sounded like a lot" until he started itemizing their belongings and found that just the tools from his welding business were collectively worth about $4,000.

What they will get, according to their State Farm agent, is reimbursement for initial expenses, such as toiletries, meals and some clothing until they are settled in a temporary rental. Their insurance policy will then cover the difference between their rent before the fire and new rent of a comparable place until they find permanent housing.

Only 25 percent of renters have insurance, according to Tully Lehman with the Insurance Information Network of California.

"Most people, when they rent, they don't think they have a lot of stuff," Lehman said. "Oftentimes they mistakenly believe that property owners' insurance covers their stuff, but it only covers damage to the structure."

The Calderons have renters insurance because of luck, they said. They transferred their policy to renters insurance when they sold their home in Foresthill to save money.

"When we were younger and living in the Bay Area, it never crossed our minds to have renters insurance," he said. "Financially, we would have been devastated."