‘A mountain to climb’: Family that lost Palisades home faces the aftermath
Frank Smiley, a longtime writer and producer for Conan O’Brien, lost his home to the Palisades fire Tuesday.
Now, like thousands of victims of the devastating Los Angeles County fires, he is navigating the complexities of collecting from his insurance provider while fielding conflicting advice from friends, securing temporary lodging for his family and contemplating whether to rebuild.
Smiley was working across town on Larchmont Boulevard when the fire broke out and was unable to return to the 1940s cottage where he lived with his wife and their two sons before it burned down.
With just the clothes he was wearing, he moved in with his brother in Santa Monica but relocated to a hotel in Marina del Rey after his brother had to evacuate the next day.
He has already signed a lease for a two-bedroom duplex in Marina del Rey, which he learned about from one of his Palisades neighbors. Several displaced families from their tight-knit street are temporarily moving into the same complex, he said.
“We’re sticking together,” he said. “It’s going to be great to support each other.”
Smiley declined to say how much he’s paying in monthly rent for the duplex, but said the price seemed fair.
“I don’t know what it was the day before the fire,” he said. “But everybody I was speaking to said, ‘Grab it at that price.’ It doesn’t seem like it’s exorbitant. I can’t wait — I have to get this apartment because I have to try to bring normalcy back to my family as soon as I can.”
Miles Soboroff and his wife were building a home in Pacific Palisades — but don’t know its fate after making a quick evacuation Tuesday amid a devastating inferno.
Although Smiley has his short-term lodging figured out, the insurance process “is completely daunting,” he said. His home, which he bought in 2011, was insured by Mercury Insurance and he already has started his claim.
“The idea of meeting with contractors, rebuilding, getting together with the insurance adjuster,” he said. “I’m looking up at a mountain to climb.”
Smiley said he is torn about whether to hire an independent public adjuster to help him with his claim. Public adjusters work on a client’s behalf and can navigate the complexities of an insurance policy and the negotiations process, typically charging a fee that is a percentage of the eventual claim settlement.
“A really good friend of mine referred this guy to me, and he seems really nice, but then a business manager is saying, ‘You don’t need that, don’t waste your money,’” Smiley said.
For those who lost their homes to the wildfires around Los Angeles, filing for an insurance claim is one of many tasks to take care of in the aftermath.
“So you’re hearing all these different sides of it. You don’t know whether to go at it alone, or hire an adjuster — but you don’t know if they’re legit or if they’re just taking your money,” he continued. “That’s the thing that’s perplexing, that’s driving me insane. I don’t know which way to turn, you know? It’s a new world for me. You never think you’re going to be in this situation, and now you’re in it.”
The family will be in Marina del Rey for at least the next six months. Whether to rebuild in the Palisades is “up in the air,” Smiley said.
“We’re on the fence. It’s just hard to wrap our head around it. It’s too early,” he said. “I’m continuing on with my life. I’m safe and my family’s safe, and that’s everything.”
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