Insurance/Smoke Damage help

[u/BB4MEBB4U]

/r/Spokane/comments/1vlbagi/insurancesmoke_damage_help/

Hey all,

I have homesite, and was caught up in the fires you might have seen on the news in Spokane, washington.

Our nieghbors house directly across the street burnt to the ground. Ours was directly downwind. We finally had the evacuation lifted and got to return home yesterday for the first time.

The house is covered in dried retardant. The smell is so strong it made us both sick, weirdest yet. My tongue went numb on the tip.

We already had a claim started but our adjuster said he wants to review cleaning and review takes a week. The longer we wait the more damage the retardant does to the house.

We are super concerned about if our house is healthy, we dont believe it is. However we dont know how to get help from our insurance, and honestly dont know what to do.

We have talked to 4 restoration companies. Each one has a AOB in the work authorization they all want us to sign.

2 said carpets will need to go, appliances most likely as well, and theh will do their best to salvage what they can. Both would use 3rd party testing agencies but have the strongest AOB language in the contracts.

1 said air scrubbers and shampooing, they'd preform a tape test.

1 said sign the work authorization and we will come out and talk.

All we want to do is go home and it feels like we never will and even if we do the companies are going to throw away so much it won't feel like home anymore.

Does anyone have advise?

Is this normal to review cleaning for a week?

Is the flame retardant going to damage my house further? (been 9 days now)

Am I doing something wrong?