I am thankful that everyone in the fire incident last Wednesday is safe. This is the only major fire we have had in the 17 years of Sun Prairie's existence. The fire and the damage were lessened because of the building's sprinkler system and the extraordinary skills of the fire departments of West Des Moines, Urbandale, Waukee, and Clive.

The purpose of this letter is to congratulate everyone who has renter's insurance, and to encourage those without coverage to get it. I am pleased that nearly half of the residents affected by this recent fire had coverage. I have enclosed a number of testimonials given by our residents, both relating to their experiences with this fire as well as other situations that have affected them over the past few years. Please take a few minutes to read them.

I have always stressed the importance of renter's insurance coverage to all residents. The cost is so small compared to the enormous loss in the event of a catastrophe. As you may know, renter's insurance typically pays to replace your furniture and other personal belongings with new ones, pays for emergency housing costs, provides personal liability in the event that you or your guest has an accident, and pays medical expenses if an injury occurs at your residence. If you do not have renter's insurance, please talk to an insurance agent. Get a quote from the agent who writes your car insurance, health insurance, or life insurance. Take advantage of whatever multiple policy discounts that might be offered. Sometimes the discounts equal or exceed the entire premium. Sometimes people don't think they can afford it but the cost is probably less than the cost of cigarettes or a can of pop every other day.

I was present when a tenant asked their insurance agent, "This chair is wet, what should I do about it?"

He said, "Get another one."

She said, "Where should I go? Goodwill?"

He said, "No. Get a new one and bring me the receipt." He also told her to make a list of all of her belongings and then go purchase new ones.

During my 30 years in the business, I've seen many instances of tenants having to pay out of their own pocket for the damages incurred by accidents that either they or their guests have caused. Therefore a second very important portion of renter's insurance coverage is liability insurance. You may think that because our insurance company fixes the building, after some accident caused by a resident, that that's the end of it. That's not true. After the owner's insurance company has fixed the building, if they feel the tenant was negligent, they will submit a bill to the tenant for the cost of the repair.

A well-known case of this was an apartment complex in West Des Moines, which we do not manage, that had a fire caused by a barbecue grill. In that case, the owner's insurance company submitted a $1 million dollar bill to the tenant, who unfortunately, did not have insurance.

Let me share just a few instances that have happened over the past number of years here at Sun Prairie and other locations.

• A tenant left home over Christmas vacation, left their bathroom window open, the pipes froze and flooded the entire building. The day they graduated from Iowa State, they received a bill for $9,000.

• In Altoona a woman went for a walk, without properly extinguishing her cigarette, while she was gone her apartment caught on fire. There was about $25,000 worth of damage, but she had insurance that replaced all of her belongings, and covered her liability for the damage to the building.

• A pool party at the office pool for you and 15 of your friends. Free pop and pizza will be provided on a Saturday afternoon of your choice
• $30 gift card to Red Lobster
• A $50 laundry debit card
• $25 of free gasoline from Kum & Go
• Duffle bag from Valley West Mall
• 50 residents will receive a coupon for a free pizza from Northern Lights Pizza
• 5 sets of 4 tickets to Menace games
• 5 sets of 4 tickets to (Iowa) Cubs game
• Coupons from Fitness World West
• $20 gift card to Granite City
• $10 gift card to Chili's
• 50 free Big Mac's
• More prizes to be announced

In case you're not familiar with it, the Sun Prairie Apartment complex is the largest in the state, stretches approximately 10 blocks and over a county line, includes 37 buildings and 1,100 individual apartment units. In a nutshell, it's huge. The fire occurred in one of the western-most buildings. Tenants in the eastern-most buildings must have almost felt like it happened in an entirely different complex it's so far away from them. Nonetheless, those residents will receive the same advice and support with renter's insurance as someone that lives in the nearest apartment to the burnt-out building. It has got to be expensive, but obviously not as expensive as an un-trusting tenant base.

One of the earliest rumors about the fire was that the alarms didn't go off, which was a worrying point. Well, I can tell you that they did at some point. Walking around the building early Thursday morning was one of the most memorable experiences out of this that I've had. The sounds were something I'll never forget: creeping metal from the collapsed gutters swaying in the wind, debris still falling and landing within the building, smoke/fire alarms going off intermittently, etc. I did hear alarms going off, although they would pause occasionally.

A week removed from the fire, the building still catches my attention as I drive by it every day. I've notice some things that have collapsed since the fire was put out, some windows opened to air-out the building, etc.

I've had renter's insurance since the day after the fire. I hope I never need it, but I'm happy that it's there.