After a house fire in Michigan: the first steps, the claim clocks and the cleanup

The first hours

The Red Cross’s home fire page says that if a fire starts, you get out, stay out and call for help. Everything else waits. Do not go back for papers or pets, and do not go back in at all until the fire department says the building is safe. MiReady adds that you should not enter a damaged home if you smell gas, or if authorities have not declared it safe. If you smell gas, call 911 and then your gas utility from a safe place: DTE at (800) 947-5000 or Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050. Consumers Energy says not to try to shut off gas valves yourself.

Then contact your local Red Cross if you need shelter or other help after the fire, at 800-733-2767, and make the first call to your insurer. You do not need to have everything sorted to make it, and the insurer will usually tell you what it needs next.

Why the insurer comes before the restoration company

MiReady’s fire page says that if you are insured, you should contact your insurance company for detailed instructions on protecting your property, conducting an inventory and contacting fire damage restoration companies. Policies often require reasonable steps to protect what is left, and the insurer may have a process, a limit or a preferred vendor. DIFS says the insurer may recommend contractors but that you have the right to hire the contractor of your choice, and to verify licenses when required, get written estimates, read contracts and avoid pressure.

Keep the order straight when a company arrives uninvited. DIFS lists unsolicited door-to-door offers, requests to sign insurance checks directly over to a contractor, demands for full payment upfront and high-pressure tactics among the warning signs after a disaster. It also lists unlicensed people offering to raise your settlement for a fee. A public adjuster must be licensed by DIFS, and the fee cannot exceed 10 percent of the settlement. You are not required to hire one.

Living somewhere else

If the home is unlivable, DIFS says to ask if your homeowners or renters policy has additional living expense coverage, which may help pay for a hotel, temporary housing, meals and other eligible expenses while repairs are completed. DIFS’s homeowners guide says that coverage for additional expenses is typically 20 percent of the insurance on your house, and that the limit is in your policy declarations. Keep receipts for everything.

The claim clocks, and where the law stops short

Fire policies in Michigan carry two statutory timing provisions in MCL 500.2833: loss is payable within 30 days after the insurer receives proof of the amount of loss, and any suit must start within 1 year after the loss or the period the policy specifies, whichever is longer, with the period paused from notice of loss until the insurer formally denies liability. The statute governs fire policies; for any other type of claim, the policy decides. Check the policy and ask an attorney, because none of this is legal advice.

DIFS says there is no time limit for the insurer to complete its investigation, so stay in contact with the company, and if the time seems unreasonable, consider a DIFS complaint at 877-999-6442. The same statute lets either side demand appraisal in writing if you disagree about the amount of loss: each picks a competent independent appraiser within 20 days, the two pick an umpire, and agreement by any two sets the amount.

The 25 percent withholding rule

Some municipalities participate in a fire insurance withholding program. DIFS says that where it applies, 25 percent of a settlement can be held in escrow until the structure is repaired, replaced or demolished. It applies when the damage exceeds 49 percent of the insurance on the real property and the insurer has no evidence that a licensed contractor was hired within 15 days after final settlement. Ask your insurer and your city if yours takes part. We could not confirm the participating cities, and we will not list any.

Cleanup, hazards and debris

IICRC’s fire and smoke standard, S700, is now in its first edition, from 2025, and excludes wildfires and chemical or industrial fires. Cleanup removes soot and smoke residue and burned debris, and a separate rebuild replaces what burned.

Two hazards need a question to the company before it demolishes anything. Anyone hired to remove or encapsulate friable asbestos on another person’s premises must be licensed by the state asbestos program, and EGLE requires advance notification for renovation and demolition projects under the federal asbestos rule. And for homes built before 1978, EPA’s lead rule requires certification and trained renovators for paid work that disturbs painted surfaces. Debris should not be burned; EGLE says that includes roofing, insulation, carpet and furniture.

Rebuilding a one- or two-family home for pay needs Michigan’s residential maintenance and alteration license from $600 of work. State pages give no single fire-repair permit rule, and most city pages are silent, so ask your building department. The fire and smoke and contents restoration pages cover the rest.

Your list of what was lost

DIFS’s guidance on policyholder duties asks for an inventory of damaged personal property with quantity, description, actual cash value and amount of loss, and it offers a free claim tracking sheet. Start the list in the first week, room by room, before memory fades, and attach photographs where you have them. Keep damaged items until the insurer says otherwise, because the insurer may want to see them. A company that cleans or packs out belongings should give you its own item list, and the two lists should match.

If you have no insurance

DIFS says that if the property is not insured, you should contact the local Red Cross or a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center. Michigan 211 connects callers with programs for housing, utilities and disaster recovery.

The call is free, and the line is a referral service, not the company’s own.