MEDFORD, Ore. – Fourteen months after the Almeda Fire, our community is still reeling. Some are still battling their own insurance companies and waiting on answers.
Rachel Jones has lived at Medford Estates on Highway 99 for 11 years. She told NBC5 News she is fortunate to have a home after the Almeda Fire came within feet of consuming it. But the fire still melted part of her home. Fourteen months later much of the damage is still there. She said she’s facing eviction because she can’t fix it.
“I know that I’m not the only one fighting to pick up the pieces,” said Jones.
It took a while for Jones to come to this point. But now she tells me she’s ready to tell her story.
“I thought that I’d file a claim and that my home would be repaired,” said Jones.
But she’s discovering it isn’t that simple. Much of her community, Medford Estates, burned down.
“It was just devastating it looked apocalyptic. It looked like a bomb went off in my neighborhood,” said Jones.
After the property’s cleanup was done her insurance, Allstate began her own rebuilding process. The porch has been cleaned up, melted vinyl has been removed, and her windows are now fixed. But the back and forth with Allstate has brought problem after problem, and months of headache. Jones said the vinyl color Medford Estates requires isn’t offered by the company Allstate works with. She found a local company that has the color but says it was rejected by the insurance company. Jones brought in a contractor to get the measurements Allstate requires. But that too hit a snag.
“They are not including profit and overhead for him. So they’re saying they won’t pay him. That they are just gonna pay for the materials basically,” said Jones.
She said her contractor won’t work for free and without Allstate’s support, he’s stopped his work. Now it’s a waiting game. She knew the process would take time, but nothing like this.
“We had the fire disaster and now we’re facing this. And it’s really just a trauma after a trauma,” said Jones.
And now, Jones is worried she could face eviction. Medford Estates does on-sight inspections. She said the property is owned by a California corporation, that is strict about properties meeting its standards. She’s already gotten two notices saying her home doesn’t meet that.
“My home is still in disrepair, so the third notice is the final notice,” said Jones.
Feeling helpless as she tries to manage her way between the two corporations, she’s now put up this sign to let her community know what’s going on.
“It’s not that I don’t care or that I’m indifferent to the way my home looks there is actually a reason why my home looks the way it does,” said Jones, “I just want my home fixed”.
NBC5 News reached out to the property owner Cal Am, they haven’t responded.
Allstate sent NBC5 News a statement:
We conducted a thorough investigation and resolved the claim according to this customer’s policy. Because we protect customers and their privacy, we do not share specific claim information.
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