Buffalo, NY (WBEN) An insurance agent says neighbors of the home which exploded Monday evening should have little difficulty getting their claims honored once they begin the process.
"When it comes to the insurance, this is a fairly straightforward insurance claims process," says AAA's Dave Kirst. "This is something that's going to be covered on anyone's homeowners policies. Damage to their house that's caused by the explosion would be covered under their homeowners so they can contact their insurance carrier, get the claims process started."
For the owner of the home, that process won't be as easy. "Their insurance then would figure out, do an investigation of what the actual cause is," says Kirst. "Once they figure out the cause of the explosion, whoever is eventually held responsible for this would be the one who would be paying for basically all the other peoples whose places got damaged."
Affected neighbors will likely only have to worry about the deductible. "They should not have to actually cover their deductible with it. They may have to pay the deductible out of pocket up front and then get reimbursed that down the road from the persons whose house exploded insurance," explains Kirst. "But the persons whose home exploded would have everything covered, minus their deductible, assuming it was not something negligent on their part."
The house explosion just after 8:30 p.m. Monday caused the death of 78-year-old Joene Pease, while her 78-year-old husband John was rushed to Erie County Medical Center in critical condition.
