France: Rebuilding After a Wildfire

France: Rebuilding After a Wildfire — Insurance, Aid, and the Débroussaillement Trap

Overview: the declaration you are waiting for will not come

The single most important thing to understand about a French wildfire claim is this: "catastrophe naturelle" (CatNat) does not cover forest fire.

People wait for the arrêté de catastrophe naturelle to appear in the Journal Officiel before contacting their insurer, and lose weeks — sometimes their claim — waiting for a declaration that will never be made for a fire.

The CatNat regime, created by the loi n° 82-600 du 13 juillet 1982, covers damage from uninsurable natural agents: flooding, drought-induced subsidence (retrait-gonflement des argiles), earthquake, avalanche, landslide, and cyclonic wind in the overseas territories. Fire is an ordinary insured peril, covered by the garantie incendie in your multirisque habitation (MRH) policy — and the garantie incendie is one of the oldest and most standard covers in French insurance.

So: claim on your own MRH, immediately, and do not wait for anything from the préfecture.

The 5-working-day clock

This is the hardest deadline in this guide.

Under the Code des assurances (art. L113-2), you must declare a loss within the period set by your policy, which for fire is conventionally five working days (cinq jours ouvrés) from becoming aware of it. That is far shorter than the 30 days allowed for CatNat events, and it is why the confusion above is expensive.

1. Declare immediately — by telephone to your insurer or agent, and then confirm in writing by lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception or the insurer's official app or portal, so you hold proof of the date.
2. If you are displaced and cannot compile details, declare anyway with what you know and say that the inventory will follow. A late, complete declaration is worse than an early, incomplete one.
3. Note that the insurer can only refuse for lateness if it can show the delay caused it harm — but do not rely on that argument.

The loss adjuster, and your right to your own

The insurer appoints an expert d'assurance to assess the damage. Their fee is paid by the insurer, and they act for the insurer.

You may appoint your own — an expert d'assuré. Most MRH policies include an "honoraires d'expert" clause that pays for this, up to a stated ceiling; check your conditions particulières. On a total loss, this frequently changes the outcome by a large margin.

1. Do not throw anything away before the expert's visit, or before written agreement that photographs suffice.
2. If the two experts disagree, the standard route is a tierce expertise — a third expert, with costs usually shared. Your policy sets out the procedure.
3. Read the franchise (deductible) and check whether your cover is valeur à neuf (replacement as new) or vétusté déduite (depreciated). This distinction decides whether you can actually rebuild.
4. Ask about the garantie relogement / frais de relogement — most MRH policies fund temporary accommodation, and people routinely fail to claim it.

Emergency help in the first days

• Mairie and CCAS — the Centre Communal d'Action Sociale provides emergency assistance: accommodation, food, clothing, small cash aid. This is the fastest door, and it is local.
• Préfecture — coordinates the response and can open a fonds de secours for uninsured or under-insured households in serious hardship. This is discretionary and is not a substitute for insurance.
• Conseil départemental / Région — additional aid lines after major fires, particularly for farms and businesses.
• Fire service and gendarmerie report — obtain the procès-verbal / constat for your file; the insurer will ask.
• Keep every receipt from the moment you evacuated: hotel, meals, fuel, clothing, tools, emergency repairs.

The débroussaillement trap — this can cut your payout

France has a legal vegetation-clearing duty that most homeowners underestimate, and it has direct financial consequences after a fire.

The Obligation Légale de Débroussaillement (OLD), in the Code forestier (art. L131-10 et seq.), requires owners in designated fire-risk zones — the Mediterranean départements, Corsica, Aquitaine and an expanding list — to clear vegetation, typically within 50 metres of buildings (extendable to 100 m by the préfet), and 10 metres either side of private access roads. The duty falls on the building owner, even where the 50 m circle extends onto a neighbour's land.

Why it matters after a fire: 1. Non-compliance can reduce your indemnity. Insurers may apply an additional deductible, and legislation has strengthened the link between OLD compliance and cover. Recent reform obliges insurers to take OLD into account and requires policyholders to declare compliance. 2. Fines for non-compliance, plus the cost of works carried out at your expense by the authority. 3. Liability — if a fire spreads from your unmaintained parcel, you may be pursued for damage. 4. If you are rebuilding, you will be required to comply. Budget for it.

Keep dated photographs and contractor invoices proving your clearing. They are evidence, and they are cheap.

Rebuilding: check the PPRIF before you plan anything

Before you commission an architect, find out whether your parcel falls inside a Plan de Prévention des Risques Incendie de Forêt (PPRIF), an annexed servitude to the local planning document.

• Red zone — construction is generally prohibited. Rebuilding an identical destroyed house may not be permitted. This is devastating news to receive after having paid for plans, so ask first.
• Blue zone — construction is allowed subject to conditions: materials, roof and opening protection, water reserve for firefighting, access for engines, and reinforced clearing.
• Consult the mairie (urbanisme) and the DDT / DDTM for your département.
• Rebuilding will require a permis de construire; a like-for-like reconstruction after a disaster has its own regime but is not automatic where a PPRIF applies.
• Check whether PPRIF conditions changed after the fire — plans are frequently revised following a major event.

Farms, forests, and land

• Farmers: contact the DDT(M) and the Chambre d'agriculture. Force-majeure provisions can protect PAC/CAP entitlements if you notify in time, and the FMSE (fonds de mutualisation) and calamity schemes may apply to specific losses.
• Forest owners: the ONF (Office National des Forêts) manages public forest; CNPF/CRPF advises private owners on salvage, replanting and the timing of clearance. Do not clear-fell immediately — burned timber may still have salvage value, and the roots hold the slope.
• Livestock carcass disposal is organised through the équarrissage service; do not bury animals yourself.

Health, and the flood that follows

See the returning-home guide for the full detail, but two points bear repeating for France:

1. Asbestos. France banned it in 1997; any building older than that may contain asbestos-cement (fibrociment) that fire has made friable. Do not handle broken sheeting — removal is a regulated trade.
2. Post-fire flooding and debris flows. Burned slopes in the Midi shed water violently, and the Mediterranean autumn episodes (épisodes cévenols / méditerranéens) arrive within weeks. Treat every vigilance orange or rouge for rain as a genuine evacuation trigger for two to five years after the fire. Register for local alerting and keep culverts clear.

Practical sequence

1. Safety first; do not re-enter until authorised.
2. Photograph and film everything before touching it.
3. Declare to your insurer within five working days — call, then confirm in writing with proof of date.
4. Obtain the pompiers/gendarmerie report.
5. Go to the mairie / CCAS for emergency aid and relogement.
6. Check your policy for honoraires d'expert and consider appointing an expert d'assuré.
7. Do not discard damaged property before the expert's visit.
8. Gather your OLD compliance evidence.
9. Before planning any rebuild, check the PPRIF zoning at the mairie.
10. Claim frais de relogement and keep every receipt.

Quick reference

1. 18 (pompiers), 15 (SAMU), 112 (European emergency number), 114 (SMS/deaf and hard of hearing).
2. CatNat does NOT cover forest fire. Do not wait for an arrêté. Claim on your MRH garantie incendie.
3. Five working days to declare — the hardest deadline here.
4. You may appoint your own expert d'assuré, often paid under the honoraires d'expert clause.
5. Keep damaged property until the expert has seen it.
6. Check valeur à neuf vs vétusté déduite, and the franchise.
7. Claim frais de relogement — commonly overlooked.
8. CCAS at the mairie is the fastest emergency help.
9. OLD: 50 m around buildings, 10 m along private access. Non-compliance can reduce your payout and bring fines. Keep dated proof.
10. Check the PPRIF before planning a rebuild — a red zone may prohibit reconstruction.
11. Asbestos in anything pre-1997; do not handle broken fibrociment.
12. Post-fire flood risk lasts years. Treat vigilance orange/rouge as an evacuation trigger.

Sources and legal basis

• Loi n° 82-600 du 13 juillet 1982 and Code des assurances art. L125-1 — the CatNat regime and the perils it covers; forest fire is an ordinary insured peril under the garantie incendie.
• Code des assurances art. L113-2 — obligation to declare a loss within the contractual period (conventionally five working days for fire).
• Code forestier art. L131-10 et seq. and L134-6 — Obligation Légale de Débroussaillement, the 50 m rule around buildings and 10 m along private access, and the préfet's power to extend to 100 m; recent reform strengthened the insurance link.
• Code de l'environnement art. L562-1 et seq. — Plans de Prévention des Risques Naturels, including PPRIF, annexed as servitudes to local planning documents.
• Code de l'action sociale et des familles — the CCAS and municipal emergency social assistance.
• Décret n° 96-1133 du 24 décembre 1996 — asbestos prohibition, in force 1 January 1997.
• ONF and CNPF/CRPF — public and private forest management and post-fire salvage guidance.

Deadlines, deductibles and zoning are contract- and commune-specific. Confirm with your assureur, your mairie, and the DDT(M) of your département before relying on any figure here.