More often than not property damage from fires is predominantly a result of water damage from putting the fire out.
This was the case for the City of Poquoson. A fire on Thanksgiving day began in the ceiling around the HVAC unit in the city’s public works building. While quickly extinguished, fire damaged one room of the building while water damaged much of the rest.
The city reported the claim to VML Insurance Programs (VMLIP) on Monday. By Friday they were working out of a new trailer thanks to the quick turnaround of Agility Recovery.
In July VMLIP contracted with Agility Recovery to provide business continuity services to members with property coverage. Agility Recovery is able to provide power, technology, office space, and internet/phone connectivity in the event of a localized or widespread disaster.
Robin Bellamy, accountant with the City of Poquoson had heard of VMLIP’s business continuity services through Agility Recovery at the VMLIP Annual Meeting.
“I didn’t know if this type of event would be eligible, but we were pleased it was,” said Bellamy.
The city worked with Mark Norton, senior continuity planner with Agility Recovery. They started with a long list of options – everything they could possibly need to get back to business, all delivered within 24 hours.
“We can deliver as much or as little as needed for members to get back to work,” said Norton. “We assessed the situation, discussed a few recovery strategies, and provided an estimate for everything they may possibly need to get back to work. We also worked with them to determine what they could do on their own and how our recovery assets may complement their expertise and available resources.”
While Agility can provide satellite phone and Internet access, as well as restrooms, computers, furniture, and other items – the city was able to provide many of these items themselves.
“We received a quote for the worst case scenario, everything we might need,” said Bellamy. “As we determined what we could handle on our end we were able to take line items out of the estimate and get the costs down.”
Since the building hadn’t completely burned down, the city could still tap into sewer line, phone lines and Internet connections. They were also able to utilize much of the furniture and file cabinets that survived, as well as computers and resources from other departments.
On Thursday morning they decided to move forward with a new mobile unit to serve as the public works building. They called Mark Norton with Agility on Thursday to declare a disaster. By Friday morning their mobile unit was on site and being set up for use.
“Within two calls to Mark at Agility we had a plan established and all we were waiting on was the “GO” from the adjuster,” said Bodina Wright, administrative assistant in public works for the city. “From the time we gave Mark the “GO” it was 24 hours, almost to the minute, and the temp trailer was here. Mark was easy to work with and continues to give us the same level of support.”
Bellamy notes that they had looked into other mobile units from other vendors and while their costs were higher than Agility; their delivery time was also a major factor.
“Other companies we looked at would take a week for delivery; with Agility we received the unit the next day. Agility has pre-positioned assets throughout the country. That makes a major difference,” said Bellamy.
The cost of the mobile unit will be covered by VMLIP under their Extra Expense Coverage. They are expected to need the unit for three to six months.
For more information on VMLIP’s business continuity services through Agility Recovery, visit: www.vrsa.us or review the brochure.
How does your coverage stack up? Having all lines of coverage with VMLIP ensures that your organization is receiving comprehensive coverage and a wide variety of value-added services tailored to Virginia’s local governmental entities. Call for a quote today: (800) 963-6800.