Wildfire insurance claim inventory: rebuilding a list of everything you lost

After a wildfire destroys a home, most of the paperwork rests on one document: the list of everything that was inside. The scale can be large. After the January 2025 Los Angeles fires, CAL FIRE reported 9,419 structures destroyed by the Eaton Fire and 6,845 by the Palisades Fire, and the California Department of Insurance reported 41,727 claims and about $25.2 billion paid as of July 6, 2026. Many households had to rebuild a list of a whole house from memory.

What a wildfire inventory usually contains

Policies differ, but the standard ISO homeowners form asks for an inventory of damaged personal property showing quantity, description, actual cash value and amount of loss, with supporting documents. Many inventory spreadsheets, including the one in this kit, add the room, age and today's replacement cost, then calculate depreciation and actual cash value.

Column	Why it matters
Room and category	Helps you remember and helps the reader check
Quantity and description	Identifies each line
Age	Used to calculate depreciation
Replacement cost per unit	Today's price for a new item of like kind and quality
Depreciation and actual cash value	Calculated from the rates your insurer uses
Proof	Photo, statement, order history, or none yet

Grouped lines

Listing every sock is rarely practical. Many people use grouped lines for categories such as clothing, books, kitchenware or toys, with a count. In California, after a total loss of a primary residence in a state of emergency, the Insurance Code requires insurers to accept an inventory that groups items into categories where itemizing each is impractical, and they cannot require their own inventory form if yours has substantially the same information, though they may ask for reasonable additional information (Ins. Code 2061). Elsewhere, ask your insurer in writing which format it accepts.

Rebuilding proof without receipts

United Policyholders, a non-profit, suggests visualizing yourself in each room, using categories and sub-categories, asking friends for photos taken inside the home, and using credit card statements and store loyalty records. It also suggests saving online price pages that show a description, picture and price. You can add your own sources: online order history, email receipts, phone photos and warranty registrations. United Policyholders reminds survivors never to claim items they did not have.

Contents payments without a full inventory

In United Policyholders' 12-month survey of 2025 Los Angeles wildfire survivors, 62% of total-loss respondents reported receiving some or all contents benefits without an itemized inventory, while 53% said their insurer required them to list every item. In California, after a covered total loss of a furnished primary home in a declared state of emergency, insurers must offer at least 60% of the contents limit, up to $350,000, without an itemized claim, and the policyholder may still file an itemized claim for losses above that payment, up to the limit (Ins. Code 10103.7, as amended by SB 495 in 2025). This 60% version has applied since January 1, 2026; for earlier losses, including the January 2025 fires, the prior version applied (30% of the dwelling limit, up to $250,000). Colorado law requires insurers to offer at least 30% of the contents limit without an itemized inventory after a total loss of contents of an owner-occupied primary residence that was furnished, and 65% after a wildfire declared a disaster by the governor (C.R.S. 10-4-110.8).

Living expenses over many months

Wildfire claims are long. In California, for a loss related to a state of emergency, living expense coverage must last at least 24 months from the start of the loss, plus up to 12 more months if good-faith delays are beyond your control, subject to the policy's other terms including its dollar limit (Ins. Code 2060), and on request the insurer must advance at least four months of living expenses after a total loss of a primary residence in a state of emergency (Ins. Code 2061). Track receipts month by month, record the end date your insurer confirms in writing, and ask for any extension in writing well before it.

Replacement cost after the fire

Many policies pay actual cash value first and the rest after you replace items. In California, for losses related to a state of emergency, policyholders have at least 36 months from the first actual cash value payment to collect replacement cost, subject to the policy limit, with six-month extensions for good cause (Ins. Code 2051.5). Keep every replacement receipt linked to its inventory line.

Putting it together

The Wildfire Total Loss Claim Kit turns these steps into ready-to-use files, with nothing pre-filled that should come from your records, your policy or your insurer:

• US_Wildfire_Total_Loss_User_Guide.docx: step-by-step user guide with key terms, rules that may apply, sources and a final checklist.
• US_Wildfire_Total_Loss_Contents_Inventory_TRACKER.xlsx: room-by-room contents inventory with RCV, depreciation and ACV calculated, summary by room and category.
• US_Wildfire_Total_Loss_ALE_TRACKER.xlsx: additional living expenses tracker: receipts, extra cost, reimbursed, not yet reimbursed, monthly summary, mileage.
• US_Wildfire_Total_Loss_Claim_Diary_TRACKER.xlsx: claim diary: key dates with alerts, contact log, documents sent, payments received.
• US_Wildfire_Total_Loss_Claim_Letters_TEMPLATE.docx: editable letters to request documents, information or time, to send documents, and to confirm conversations in writing.
• US_Wildfire_Total_Loss_Recoverable_Depreciation_TRACKER.xlsx: item-by-item tracker of withheld depreciation, replacements, receipts and amounts received.

Log your claim and deadlines in the Claim Diary. Build the inventory with single and grouped lines, follow living expenses month by month, and track withheld depreciation as you replace items. The guide lists official rules that apply in some states after a declared emergency.

General information, not legal or insurance advice. Each rule above applies only in the situation it describes.