Monday morning, a two-alarm fire broke out at the Boulders at Lake Ridge apartment complex.
A 9-1-1 call was made rapidly and all the residents were evacuated, but 10 people were displaced by the incident.
While the Red Cross is working to help house those individuals, Owner of Hettler Insurance – Ron Hettler, says that rental insurance can help minimize losses in an incident like this.
“It’s a good thing to have and it’s cheap,” he said. “It’s the least expensive form of insurance you’ll probably ever buy.”
Hettler said that renters insurance is great to help someone rebuild and repair, but is only succesful if the resident documents their belonging.
“After the fire,” he said, “when you’re looking at charred remains you’ve got to figure out – what did I have?”
He said paper documentation of items is OK, but urged renters to take photos or videos of their belongings.
“Make sure you take a picture with your cell phone of every side of the room,” he said. “you may never need to use them…but if you do, you’ve got them available. they prove you own the thing, document the quality and show the amount.”
Hettler also advised renters save those photos or documents somewhere outside the apartment, where they won’t be impacted by a disaster.
