A fire destroyed three homes in North Myrtle Beach Wednesday morning, and while the homeowners are recovering in a burn center, an insurance agent is taking on a more personal role, and is overwhelmed to see so many neighbors along the Grand Strand offering their help.
Perry Stavley of Perry Insurance Group said when he heard of the fire that morning, he immediately called around to hospitals to check in with the owners.
“I immediately went down there, luckily one of their cousins was there. Because I didn’t want them sitting in a hospital room wondering ‘where’s my house? Do I have insurance?’ I wanted if they were awake and could speak, I could give them a peace of mind on the house,” he said.
This is honestly one of the worst claims I’ve ever had where family members got injured. I’ve had it where houses burned down or people lose stuff, but this is the first I’ve actually had to help ‘hey we have family members that have to help take care of animals. Where are they going to board one of the dogs that’s still around? Who’s going to take care of the family?’
He said two homes are a complete loss, and the third is unlivable. He’s estimating it’ll cost around $1 million for building damage and contents, but the main focus right now is their health.
“I know a couple of them are in Augusta for the burn center, and I have a family member who lives in Augusta and tells me about the process, where they go through some excruciating pain,” he said.
“It’s very very painful and it’s a long recover, it’s not something that takes a couple of weeks. It’s 6 months.”
In a Facebook post, the insurance company said another member of the household will need surgery because of a compound fracture, and that the family lost a couple of animals in the fire.
“This family went to bed two nights ago, everything was fine, they wake up, smell smoke, completely lost their house. The next door neighbors lost their house. All of their contents. They got months and months where they’re going to be staying in hotels,” Perry said.
Growing up along the Grand Strand, Perry said his response is a natural one, shared by so many neighbors.
“As soon as they saw it, all of our customers reached out, and said how can we help. Literally the neighbor across the street is holding onto one of the family’s dogs. The other next door neighbor is trying to find the sister of the family,” he said.
Everybody who has reached out and said something, it’s almost overwhelming in the office we have phone calls and messages left and right of people just offering to help.
While several want to buy blankets and toiletries, he said those are provided by insurance, so he said their idea is to collect gift cards a little later on.
“What about the aunt or the uncle that’s got to help physically take care of them . They don’t have time to cook meals! That’s where we were saying hey let’s get some gift cards, together. I know the owner of Sea Blue already reached out and said ‘man, if I can cook meals for them let me know.’”
He said from an insurance standpoint, his best advice is to make sure your neighbors know your emergency contacts, because in a catastrophic event, insurance agents can start to get the ball rolling while you’re recovering.
“We actually just got a phone call, there’s a check on the way for the husband and wife to go ahead and start buying stuff,” he said.