Campus Connection

Alum recounts apartment fire, value of insurance

[caption id="attachment_38974" align="alignright" width="218"] Scott Bramwell, '13[/caption] So there I am standing in plaid PJ pants, a Coors Light sweatshirt, and boat shoes in the beginning of December watching my apartment and possessions burn. The heat is so intense that the street-facing windows explode from the pressure. In that exact moment, I realize I have no possessions other than those on my back and no roof over my head for the night. I’m a UW-L alum who works and lives in La Crosse. This is my story. It’s one I hope students or anyone renting an apartment will take a moment to read. I may have lost nearly everything I owned that December day, but I was able to recover because of a small investment in renter’s insurance I decided to make 20 months ago. From my experiences with fires around the fire pit at the lake, and sometimes watching my dad struggle to get a campfire going with lighter fluid and matches, it is hard to imagine an entire home or apartment catching on fire and destroying everything inside in a matter of 15 minutes, without really knowing how or why. But that’s pretty much what happened to me last December in my home — the upper unit of a duplex rental property on Ferry Street. Two Western Technical College students and a UW-L student lived in the lower unit. One of the students had invited me downstairs to watch a movie or TV. About 15-20 minutes later, we realized it was Thursday night and football was on. Unfortunately, the guys below did not have the NFL network, but I did! So we decided to head back upstairs to watch the game. On the way up the stairs, we started hearing beeping and cracking noises. We smelled something, and it felt significantly warmer. Even so, when we reached the top of the stairs, fire still did not enter our minds. We were just confused by all the abnormalities in the environment. Then, I opened the door to my apartment, and a thick, black smoke that wreaked of wood, cotton and plastics came billowing out. The abnormalities suddenly made sense. I tried to take a step inside, but it was too thick and hot. I tried to crawl in on my hands and knees to the same effect. The neighbor from downstairs asked if I thought a hose would help, but I told him no. We ran up and down the stairs in a panic for another 15 seconds before we realized we needed to call 911. I called. Fortunately, the fire department was a straight shot down Ferry. They arrived in 3-5 minutes and begin to put out the fire. Standing there on the street watching my apartment go up in flames was the most shocking experience of my life. I did not know what to do, or how to react. We were fortunate that no people were injured in the fire. But I did lose my 18-year-old cat — beloved by family and friends. Neighbors provided jackets and hats and some of the basic winter needs right away. The Red Cross provided us a hotel for that night, as well as cash to get by for a few days and purchase a few necessities. My employer, Ingersoll Rand/Trane, provided me and my three downstairs neighbors housing the next few days in the customer suites downtown, which served as a home base as our building was condemned. One of my colleagues also started a donation fund and I received some financial aid from my co-workers, which was truly moving. It was those people — friends, family and organizations —who made me really understand that wealth can be measured many different ways. We are often too quick to measure ourselves or other people against the material possessions we have. Only when you lose everything — even if you get back some of it later— do you really understand that the only thing you have to measure your wealth is the people you have in your life. If you don't have good people to help you, and a good insurance policy for a disaster like this, well, good luck. That brings me to the other thing I’m grateful for: insurance. I lost about 75-90 percent of my possessions — save clothes, dishes, and bedding that were on the far side of the apartment and one storage room went relatively untouched because the door was shut. All of the electronics I had accumulated since I was roughly 13 years old, movie collections, book collections, irreplaceable personal belongings, pictures and so many more material possessions were lost. It took 7.5 hours of walking through the ashes with a third party disaster inventory specialist company hired by my insurance company to capture what was lost. We gave this list to my insurance company, which was wonderful to work with in a disaster like this. However, I wouldn't have been doing any of that if I didn't have insurance. People say that you get insurance when you cannot recover if something bad were to happen. This was definitely the scenario for me. I thank God that one of my high school friends and my parents convinced me to get renter's insurance about 20 months ago. Had it not been for their pressure, I would have got nothing back other than what I personally could have taken out of the apartment and cleaned. I would have had no financial assistance other than $250 The Red Cross had given me, which was awesome, but not enough to rebuild a life. I cannot imagine how different I would be feeling now if I did not have insurance. I would not have had the money to replace anything. On top of that, if the fire is declared negligent, and you become liable for the damages, this could be an extremely detrimental situation. Furthermore, if you live in a large complex it is extremely important to have liability insurance, which is typically even cheaper than personal coverage. If you are declared negligent in a large complex and it burns down; not only are you liable for the entire building itself and can you be sued for a multi-million dollar settlement by the building owner; but each individual that has insurance in the complex, their insurance companies are likely to pay out their policies and sue you to cover what they paid out in those policies. You could be facing a monthly payment to multiple individuals for the rest of your life. Never ending debt. That is not something most people can recover from, and it was truly shocking to think that I was completely clueless about how horribly I was putting myself and my future at risk for not having it. So my advice is, if you haven't yet, find the right renter's insurance policy for your needs. They usually run about $80-$140 a year depending on your coverage, which is cheap enough for just about anyone to afford. Scott Bramwell, ’13