Insurers and brokers do what they can for Fort McMurray victims

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Insurers and brokers do what they can for Fort McMurray victims

“Making sure they’re safe, they have somewhere to live, they can feed themselves.”

Jeff Pearce on May 5, 2016

Smoke fills the air near a parking lot in Fort McMurray, Alberta on Tuesday. CP

Pray for rain. But the flames are so out of control at the Fort McMurray wildfire, they’re even creating their own weather, with forks of lightning and high winds reported. You’ve got 850 kilometres — about the size of Calgary — now reduced to blackened waste, grey ash and debris. Fortunately, insurers are doing more than prayers.

We’ve created a directory of quick reference info brokers can use, straight from insurers. And reports are coming in what’s being done to help the wildfire victims.

With the evacuation order for Fort McMurray still in place, Paul MacDonald, senior vice-president of Claims for RSA has told Top Broker that the company is ensuring it has the necessary resources to help brokers help their clients.

“We’ve flown individuals out to Edmonton, we’ve got a staging area in Calgary, which is sort of our main centre of operations for this catastrophe, and we’ve also allocated a significant number of additional resources to answering calls to ensure that whenever we do receive calls from our brokers and their clients, we’re responding to them as expeditiously as possible.”

MacDonald says a number of things can be done in the meantime for policyholders — first and foremost answering their questions. “For those individuals who don’t know the status of their particular home or property, they still need additional living expenses or they need a loss-of-use for their vehicles. So individuals are calling in, saying, ‘I’ve had to leave my vehicle behind. I have no way of getting around.’ So we can provide services to support individuals in that circumstance.

“Right now it’s really [about] ensuring that we’re supporting them, making sure that they’re safe, that they have somewhere to live, they can get around, that they can go out and buy groceries and feed themselves.”

Meanwhile, the Guarantee Company of North America announced Thursday afternoon that it’s donated $10,000 to the Canadian Red Cross to help communities impacted by the wildfires. “As a strong Canadian company, it’s in our character to assist not only our broker partners and our customers in the impacted areas, but the community as a whole,” CEO Alister Campbell said in a formal announcement.

“Our immediate priority is to help those policyholders who have been evacuated find a safe place for themselves and their families,” Frank Faieta, National VP of Claims, said in the same announcement. “The Guarantee’s Claims team is on full alert to help those affected by the Alberta wildfires.”

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Insurers and brokers do what they can for Fort McMurray victims