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Home Loss File System
- ahazred8ta 2y agoA spreadsheet tool with guidance on what to do before and after the catastrophic loss of your house, and what information to collect.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- walterbell 2y ago[flagged]
- groby_b 2y agoKindly: If you don't have anything to contribute to helping the folks actually affected, maybe don't pick a thread for tools for affected folk to start political grandstanding. For my friends who have lost their homes, this is extremely useful.
- walterbell 2y agoAs we know from the history of many disasters, both response and recovery are _extremely_ dependent on the local environment. Disaster planning begins with input from local professionals and local survivors of previous local disasters.
- cbsks 2y agoVictor Shaw died in the Eaton Fire last week with a garden hose in his hand. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-12/los-angeles-fire-eaton-palisades-altadena-victims https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-12/los-ange... Accurate risk assessment is difficult when a fire is barreling towards you.
- walterbell 2y ago> Accurate risk assessment is difficult when a fire is barreling towards you. Yes, hence it must be done (Step 0 above) _before_ there is a fire
- caycep 2y agoAltadena being relatively high in scientists, there was an amateur forecasting group that predicted the fire and sent early warnings out based on how they modeled the Santa Ana winds and such.
- p1necone 2y agoI'm sorry but the amount of houses nearby that need to be on fire before I'm just getting the fuck out is less than any amount that people might reasonably consider a wildfire, my house is not worth risking my life. Even if I do manage to stop it from burning down without getting killed the damage to my health from smoke inhalation is not worth it. I would also be extremely skeptical of any claims of mismanagement re: the Californian government you read online - it's being used as a political football and very little of what I've seen has any basis in reality.
- ChrisArchitect 2y ago> This tool was created by former California wildfire survivors committed to supporting you through the challenging process of disaster recovery. We hope to provide essential resources, checklists, and organizational tools to help you manage insurance claims, document losses, and track expenses efficiently. By staying organized, you hope you can regain a sense of control during this difficult time. We are truly sorry for your loss and hope this tool offers clarity, support, and empowerment as you move forward on your path to recovery.
- Titan2189 2y agoYou have to remove "/htmlview" from the URL, otherwise the "File > Make a copy" interface is not available
- dang 2y agoFixed now... I think. If not please let us know!
- TheCapeGreek 2y agoStill opened in HTML view for me
- dang 2y agoDoes anyone know what the URL should be to get the right effect?
- ars 2y agoThe current URL works for me.
- culi 2y agohttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TPeJzW5pa-BiJZjuEa1yGSFs7ZJetbnxf2gjMvv4tkc/edit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TPeJzW5pa-BiJZjuEa1y...
- dang 2y agoCurrent URL is that plus ?usp=sharing. Not sure whether it's better to cut that query string or keep it.
- culi 2y agoThank you, I was wondering about this. For anyone else that's curious, the original URL looked like https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TPeJzW5pa-BiJZjuEa1yGSFs7ZJetbnxf2gjMvv4tkc/htmlview https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TPeJzW5pa-BiJZjuEa1y... I didn't know /htmlview was a feature of Google Sheets. neat
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- DrRossNelson 2y agoThanks Borski for sharing the link for the Home Loss File System - Digital Resource that my family has been working on. Were continuing to work to get the word out about this and the physical file boxes were creating for folks who are not tech savvy (homelossfilesystem.com). We've disseminated 2700 of the physical file boxes to fire survivors over the last 15 years and excited about what the digital resource can become. We welcome contributors/volunteers/suggestions/feedback - feel free to add them here or email us homelossfilesystem@gmail.com The GoFundMe is 65% the way to its goal. If you wish you contribute you can here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-deliver-mor-1500-home-loss-file-kits-to-la-families?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1cRfd0Z65jNgOXEVNovXK7pOyvkfj9IH3WbhapBTcYMOCoUz_85BhffqA_aem_qPOn7z-49fsqwFlfGnMmPw https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-deliver-mor-1500-home-los... Thanks again all! Please continue to share with any fire survivors!
- DrRossNelson 2y agoAlso here is the link again for the Digital Resource: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TPeJzW5pa-BiJZjuEa1yGSFs7ZJetbnxf2gjMvv4tkc/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TPeJzW5pa-BiJZjuEa1y...
- kylehotchkiss 2y agoWhat an awesome awesome way to make light of what you’ve gone through. This is gonna help so many people in LA! (Also hi from just a little bit up the 15 if you’re still in scripps ranch :))
- DrRossNelson 2y agoWe are no longer in Scripps Ranch - my parents sold their land and moved to Solana Beach. :D I'm up in the SF Bay Area myself.
- kylehotchkiss 2y agoSolana Beach isn't too bad either :)
- deleted 2y ago
- pimlottc 2y agoThis is perhaps only a problem with the niche HN user base, but “Filing System” would be more accurate. Thought this had to do with damaged hard disk recovery or redundant file systems or something technical like that.
- ziml77 2y agoIt really sounded to me like some grim project where you store your data by destroying houses!
- xp84 2y agoIn version two, instead of storing a 1 as a destroyed house, we’ll destroy them to varying degrees and then read that single house as multiple bits. Like TLC SSDs
- desdenova 2y agoWhat if we just destroy it enough so that nobody would want to live there, but there may or may not be a homeless person living there now? Now we have quantum storage.
- ginko 2y agoRelatively quick to write but expensive to reset the blocks.
- Hackbraten 2y agoVersion 2 works around that limitation using the divorce and re-marry technique.
- lazide 2y agoIt requires super sensitive sensors through. The prior rev could be read from orbit. (/s)
- aurizon 2y agoYes, first take a detailed slow panned video of each room, wall by wall, ceiling and carpets. Basement and all tools (open all and spread). Every appliance and fixtures get the medicine cabinet and under all sinks. Same with garage and all in there, same with shed and all vehicles/tools/bikes etc. You can then slowly advance the video, list the books etc, all the kitchen cabinet/freezer/clothes/bedding/frozen foods as well as dry foods etc and amass a fully exhaustive home inventory. An amazing amount of stuff = $$ builds up over the years and few people have such a detailed loss record. You can do the video in 15 minutes and as long as you save in the cloud - in a few places even - you can tabulate that aspect of your loss in detail later - even after the fact if well saved.
- vlark 2y agoThis is a useful tool for any homeowner, not just those threatened by wildfire. Good luck and godspeed to those currently in harm's way in California.
- sedatk 2y agoThere is no "File" menu in the current link because it's been shared in HTML view mode. To make a local copy, use this link to open it in edit mode instead (only the last path of the URL should be different): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TPeJzW5pa-BiJZjuEa1yGSFs7ZJetbnxf2gjMvv4tkc/edit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TPeJzW5pa-BiJZjuEa1y...
- sedatk 2y ago(This has now been fixed, FYI)
- rawgabbit 2y agoThanks for the link. I learned that CA bans insurers from deducting the value of land when purchasing a new home instead of rebuilding. Land Value Deduction – In the event of a total loss to your property, the amount owed to you by the insurer is the cost to rebuild your home at its original location, including building code upgrade coverage and extended replacement cost coverage. Your insurer is not allowed to take a deduction for the value of land under the replacement home you purchase. [Cal Ins. Code 2051.5 (c)(2)]
- Over2Chars 2y agoThis is a very clever idea. Cudos. I'm not 100% a fan of the google doc format, but whatever.
- DrRossNelson 2y agoI welcome your suggestions and volunteer efforts if want to help us make it better!
- Over2Chars 2y agoIt is obviously well intentioned and well timed. Nit-picking it now wouldn't add any value.
- DrRossNelson 2y agoIs there a format you'd like to see this in. Keep in mind the original link in this thread was not formatted properly. Ensure you use this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TPeJzW5pa-BiJZjuEa1yGSFs7ZJetbnxf2gjMvv4tkc/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TPeJzW5pa-BiJZjuEa1y...
- Over2Chars 2y agoI don't think you want to start a format discussion on Hacker News. Seriously.
- dbtc 2y agoTechnically, you started it.
- Over2Chars 2y agoI mentioned it, true. I declined to participate. Shall we have a meta discussion?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- irunmyownemail 2y agoIf we click that link, who besides Google can instantly identify us?
- nomilk 2y agoGreat advice, especially in the second tab (how to deal with insurers). I've always considered insurance false-economy and avoided it wherever possible, especially for events with losses <$20k. This is because the value of the three time-costs of insurance (time to find, time to monitor, and time to claim) generally exceed the expected value the claim. For example, if my flight were cancelled, I might lose $1000. But all the hassle signing up for, monitoring (to ensure conditions don't change significantly in the insurer's favour; often conveyed by an email to a spam folder), and going through a stereotypically labyrinthine claims process is significantly worse than being out of pocket $1000. Or another way to put it, I'd pay $1000 just to avoid having to do all that. Or a third way to put it, if someone offered me $1000 to find them a suitable insurance policy, monitor it to make sure the company didn't spontaneously alter it, and make a claim on their behalf, I wouldn't do it, it's just not worth it. I get why insurers are like this. If they can sneak you a letter/email(/fax) and on in a foot note on page 43 'notify' you of a reduction in your coverage (for unchanged premiums), they make money. And if they make lodging a claim as onerous as possible, some % of claimants will abandon the claim, making them even more money. So insurance companies are just doing what they're legally allowed to do to make as much money as possible. Where possible (e.g. for events without enormous payouts [obviously not so helpful in the case of LA fires]) it can be better to DIY insurance, i.e. put a little savings aside for those events (just as one may pay insurance premiums), that way, you actually have it when you need it, unlike insurance payouts from insurers who generally try to make it as difficult as possible to obtain.
- Narkov 2y ago> I've always considered insurance false-economy and avoided it wherever possible, especially for events with losses <$20k. Everything is relative, right? Self insurance is fine if you can afford it. Most people can't wear a $20k hit without potentially ending up homeless or in significant financial distress.
- NitpickLawyer 2y ago> For example, if my flight were cancelled There has been a flurry of services in the EU that handle these things for you, if you are impacted. It's usually as simple as 1 form + a pic of a boarding pass, wait ~3 months and get ~70% of the money into your account. Exactly as low effort as needed to make it both useful and (one would hope) incentivise the airlines to sort it out in a better way for the client (i.e. rebooking, vouchers, etc).
- DrRossNelson 2y agoWe just had our Home Loss File System volunteer meeting. We are now exploring the idea of building this as an app. If you are interested in contributing to this, please reach out to me here or via email: homelossfilesystem@gmail.com
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- lelandfe 2y agoEmailed.
- humanfromearth9 2y agoPlease take into account that this list is not final and may vary : some people may need to enter additional info. With a spreadsheet, this remains easy to do (you are in full control of the document and can add sheets, columns, rows as you wish), but with a webapp, it's possible only if the webapp has the feature to allow adding custom info. Then, also essential (if not already there) , is adding or mentioning a way to retrieve /store /note down all credentials for websites, bank apps, ID card, ID/auth/esign apps... For example encouraging the use of a Keepass file, even if new, just to note down all remembered credentials.
- greggsy 2y agoWould love to see an Australian equivalent of this.
- soulmerge 2y agoWhat? "Home Loss File System"? There is a new file sytem? And it's lossy? How isthat supposed to work!? click ... Ooooooh
- jijikuya 2y agoI'm on the other side of the planet so it's not my place to comment on the content of any of this. It seems to look like a good resource clearly made with the best of intentions. I understand the people/person behind this wants to quickly and easily impart information, so the best format for the job is whichever one they can distribute info in as quickly as possible -- but I also see this as a sort of indictment of the World Wide Web as we know it. This should be a website. This should be at the top of search results. This should be viewable on mobile devices and desktops. And yet, it's being shared through a proprietary office suite service in the form of a spreadsheet that can't be quickly referenced or copied without loading an entire webapp. If you're one of the many people who wonder why Google stopped being useful, if you're one of the many people who think it's getting harder to find stuff online, here's your answer as to why. All the good, salient, pertinent, well-formed information that you want to find, is being shared like this. This is what's easiest for people, and that's at odds with how we find content these days. This comment came out kind of half-baked, but I think it's interesting to think about, and it's not a viewpoint I see here often.
- kzalesak 2y agoI think that the biggest advantage of the spreadsheet is that it can be modified easily, even democratically and also on the go. No website offers that kind of ease of use for _adding_ information
- acidburnNSA 2y agoYou may be right, but it's still an indictment of the web. After all, the first browser was an HTML editor as well as viewer.
- teddyh 2y agoHave you heard of Wikis?
- egberts1 2y agoHave you tried to edit just a tiny section of a Wiki while being updated by thousands of Wiki editors?
- pragma_x 2y agoAs an article posted on HN, I expected this to be about how to cope with losing a self-hosted Linux filesystem. As a resource to deal with "home loss", this is excellent. Also, I'd like to take a moment to appreciate how close this comes to implementing most of a website within a google spreadsheet. I know that much of this is intended to be duplicated and filled out, but the first few tabs would be right at home as HTML somewhere. You can't beat the hosting cost of doing it this way, and now I wonder how many folks are abusing Google Docs like that.
- hulitu 2y ago> Also, I'd like to take a moment to appreciate how close this comes to implementing most of a website within a google spreadsheet It looks horrible from any usability and GUI perspective.
- samiv 2y agoBut why does this not exist for those who already lost their homes years ago and are living on the streets? A bunch of rich home owners have their houses burned down it's an emergency. Tens of thousands of homeless people live on the streets and nobody bats an eye. Just saying.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- jjkaczor 2y agoFrom the first (most top-voted) post in this thread from the person who put this together, states: "We've disseminated 2700 of the physical file boxes to fire survivors over the last 15 years and excited about what the digital resource can become."
- otterpro 2y agoThis is great, I can just fill it out, and save a copy somewhere in google drive. Also I'd keep a printed hard copy of it and then save it in (fireproof) safe or a bug-out bag for escaping from disaster.
- brooksbp 2y agoIs there a resource for what to do before an event like this?
- newman314 2y agoThis is nice! One thing I was reading about was some folks cautioning about the scams and underhanded behavior that spring up around unfortunate events. A tab/page dedicated documenting things to watch out for would be helpful. Some items like what is described here: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-do-i-avoid-scams-and-fraud-after-a-disaster-en-1529/ https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-do-i-avoid-scam...
- DrRossNelson 2y agoThank you! I've added this to our "Additional Resources" Tab for now, but could see it getting its own tab down the road. Much appreciated!
- jftuga 2y agoI know someone who lost their home in the Palisades fires. This is what he said about this spreadsheet: "I’ve already started spreading the word about the spreadsheet, it’s a great resource."
- DrRossNelson 2y agoawesome to hear!