The November 2016 fire that ravaged Gatlinburg,Tennessee, started with kids and matches in the Great SmokyMountains surrounding the town. With dry conditions and windsrunning strong, the kids chucked matches and rolled burning tiresdownhill. The wind picked up to fuel the fire, and from there thedevastation spread rapidly.

As the firefighters knew when hurrying to the scene,extinguishing flames in mountains as tall as 6,000 feet is nearlyimpossible. Many homes were burned to the foundation. The grim resultsshow just how monumental of a task they faced:

• 14 people died in the fire orfrom fleeing the fire.
• More than 17,000 acres burned, damaging or destroying nearly2,500 structures.
• Nearly 4,000 insurance claims werefiled.
• The combined residential and commercial property loss came tonearly $850 million.

One of the service providers on site responding to assistpolicyholders was Enservio's Service on Site (SOS) team. We provideboots-on-the-ground claims services for carriers that needadditional resources to evaluate and inventory property contentslosses in catastrophic areas. In trying to help people cope withhigh levels of tragedy and total loss of property, we strive toestablish personal connections with policyholders.

Related: Not all fire insurance policies are the same:Valued vs. non-valued

Surveying what's left after the flames. (Photo:W.Lee/Enservio)

The emotions of loss

Although we start off as acquaintances — there to helprebuild their lost lives — the relationships quickly grow.Through all the emotion and tears (and even laughter at times), ourinteractions truly turn into meaningful connections. We sit withpeople for days on end, hours at a time. They cry often, needrefreshers, and times rescheduled as they remember theirgranddaughter's cheerleading bracelet, their trophies, theirchild's hand-made pottery, and other keepsakes they've lost.

We try to stay strong for them because they are at their weakestmoment. For those of us working the loss, it becomes much more thanthe time we put in to compile all the notes and collect all thedata. We continue to interact with these policyholders even afterreimbursement takes place. What we do goes far beyond just therebuilding process of their homes and reimbursement of apolicy.

While it's true that we represent our carrier partners, the mostrewarding part of the job is gaining the trust of the policyholdersthrough their turmoil and then getting that big “thank you for allyou have done.” The work can be highly rewarding.

Related: Natural hazards created havoc in2016

(Photo: W.Lee/Enservio)

Assessing destroyed homes with no documentedinventory

Following the Gatlinburg catastrophe, we were called in to workon a number of claims, including one for a property owner who hadlost 100 condo units. Personally, this was the most difficultassignment in my career. I grew up in Eastern Tennessee, the lowervalley of Gatlinburg, and played as a child in these same hills.Much of my family still resides in the area, including a sister whowas evacuated since her home was close to the fire.

While building trusting relationships with policyholders is oneof our most important missions, we also strive to make sure weproperly manage the claims process. When working with a homeownerwho has insurance but no written inventory of their contents, wefirst visit the loss site and take photographs of anything we can.We measure the approximate square footage of the dwelling, thencall the homeowner to go over the claims process.

During the initial in-person meeting, we ask the homeowners totell us their story. As any claims pro knows, this often leads toquite an emotional response as they relive the memories of theirformer lives and explain the many dear objects they lost.

To ensure the emotion does not prevent us from doing our jobscorrectly, we usually draw a diagram of their home, then walkthrough it room-by-room with the homeowner. This helps make sure wedon't miss anything, and gives us an accurate diagram to recreatepersonal property from muscle memory.

We record the inventory of contents then upload these filesalong with photos to our home office. We start with a descriptionof the items and the values stated by the homeowner. We comparethose numbers to an internal proprietary database we maintain thatlists the prices on millions of common household items.

From there we identify any information that's missing and workwith the field claims adjuster to add any necessary data. This mayrequire a follow-up meeting with the claimant and additionalresearch, especially for unique items such as jewelry andantiques.

We generate valuations painstakingly. That's because certainitems may be artificially inflated due to sentimental attachment.We want to make policyholders whole again and provide what'srightfully theirs, while adequately validating valuations down tothe cent.

(Photo: W.Lee/Enservio)

Helping people rebuild their lives

Looking back on my experience, it took an emotional toll on mepersonally. One elderly woman who lost everything, wrote out allher belongings in beautiful cursive handwriting – virtually tellingthe story of her life.

A veteran combat engineer recalled all the model numbers ofnearly 40 CB radios he had owned since 1982. There was also afamily that had invited 24 people, all of whom lost their homes, tostay with them.

As I met with policyholders over the course of a month, Irealized they were actually among the luckier ones. Many people inthe area had no insurance. Fortunately, carriers, militarypersonnel, field operators, including rescue teams andfirefighters, worked together to help people as much aspossible.

And that is what the insurance industry is all about: helpingpeople to recover from catastrophic events so they can rebuildtheir lives.

William Lee ([email protected]) is a claims projectmanager for Enservio's SOSteam, which provides contents inventory creation,valuation and replacement services to carriers and policyholders.For more information visit www.enservio.com.

Following are more photos of the devastation much of theGatlinburg area suffered in the wake of the wildfire.

(Photo: W.Lee/Enservio)

(Photo: W.Lee/Enservio)

(Photo: W.Lee/Enservio)

(Photo: W.Lee/Enservio)

(Photo: W.Lee/Enservio)