An insurance agent offers advice to homeowners about options for coverage after a Brownsville mother lost the home she was renting to a fire.
Eleuteria Zarate spent the day going through her clothes to see if anything is still usable. They were among the few items she recovered after a fire destroyed her home.
“It does hurt what someone loses, right? That you have to start from zero, but what hurt us the most were the animals that couldn’t be saved,” Zarate said.
Zarate’s two chihuahuas died in the fire on Jefferson Street in Brownsville last month.
She rented a white home for around three years with her children. She says no one was home when the fire started.
“It was the smoke that destroyed everything else, nothing could be saved. One side was completely burned down and the other side the damage came from the smoke,” Zarate said.
Zarate did not have renters insurance, but because the home wasn’t hers, she’s since found a new place to stay with her family.
Her home is one of multiple calls the Brownsville Fire Marshal’s Office has responded to in November. They say it’s around this time that they start to see an increase in fire calls.
A Rio Grande Valley insurance agent says he’s noticed the same.
“Every one of us, that has a homeowner policy, is typically fire. Even when we buy a renter’s policy, that includes fire for your contents as well,” Safeguard Insurance Agency Principle Abraham Padron said.
Padron encourages homeowners and renters to update and review their policy and make sure they have the adequate coverage.
He says most policies cover your home, outdoor structures like sheds, and the content inside your home including appliances, furniture and clothes.
“What we always recommend people to do is we recommend that you make sure you videotape your home, because the first thing you’re going to do when you put a claim after a fire is we’re going to ask you if can you give me inventory,” Padron said.
Padron says people with homeowners and renters insurance can have a claim completed within 30 days.
The Brownsville fire marshal ruled Zarate’s home fire as undetermined.
Zarate is happy her family has since found a new place to live.
“The good news is that, thankfully, we’re here at this home now,” Zarate said.
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Alice J. Roden started working for Trending Insurance News at the end of 2021. Alice grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. A writer with a vast insurance industry background Alice has help with several of the biggest insurance companies. Before joining Trending Insurance News, Alice briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers home, renters and other property insurance stories.