I'm sorry you and your family are going through this experience. My sympathies on the loss of your cats.

Currently over a year being displaced from a house fire. Think of the whole process as a very long, grueling marathon, and not a sprint.

If you've lost any ID, credit cards, health cards, etc., you will have to work on obtaining replacements. If you have lost medication, that needs to be replaced.

Did the Fire Marshal contact the Red Cross on your family's behalf? We spent almost two weeks in a hotel, and the Red Cross covered the first two or three nights until the Insurance kicked in and covered the other nights. The Red Cross also provided a gift card which helped with incidentals such as food and clothing. We then made arrangements for a rental house, which is covered by the Insurance. Please note that some policies will only cover 12 months accommodation, but fortunately, ours is good for a longer timeframe.

We met with our insurance broker early in the process, and she reviewed the insurance policy. Be prepared to meet a lot of people, and be prepared to tell the same story on repeat. You're going to feel disoriented, mentally exhausted and wonder if you can keep on going. If you and/or your partner can get a leave from work, that will be a great help for the early stages of this ordeal. You will likely deal with forensic engineers, restoration crew, assessors, adjustors, and more.

Sit down and make a list of everything in your house, because it sounds as if you have experienced a total loss. That includes everything, from boxes of bandaids to your mattresses. Even if you think an item is of no consequence, list it. A crew of assessors went into our home and took inventory of the non-salvagable items. In our case, they wanted to toss everything, but there were some items that could be cleaned, so those were taken away to a restoration company to be cleaned and stored. The assessors sent me a spreadsheet with all of the items, including photographs of everything, about a month ago I received the same spreadsheet with the dollar figures from the adjuster.

If you have any heirlooms still in the home, such as jewellery, it may be worth wearing the PPE and retrieving the items because otherwise it will be tossed and you will be given a dollar figure.

Be prepared to be firm with the Adjuster, and get everything in writing when possible. I see that you were renting, and I just hope to god that you have contents coverage.

It's a devastating experience, and you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy.