Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance Helps Rebuild After House Fire

Photo credit: iStock/Yelantsevv

The call came a bit after midnight. When Darrin Walton answered, he heard his daughter crying and screaming, “Our house is on fire!”

“We pulled onto their street, smelled the smoke and saw all the firetrucks,” says Walton, executive director of claims for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. “That put the severity in perspective.”

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The fire started in the garage, on the wall shared by then-2-year-old Kennedy’s bedroom. The Dripps family – Dan, Courtney, Kennedy, Nolan and Indy the dog – were all safe, but their home was a total loss. The family was left with only what they were wearing that night.

“I just stood there and watched in disbelief,” Walton says of the fire that took firefighters more than four hours to contain.

What do you do when you’re the executive director of claims for an insurance company, and your daughter and her family have lost their home?

“I didn’t switch into insurance mode until the next morning. Call the claim in! Do these things! Get this documentation,” jokes Walton.

See more: Are You Prepared If a Tornado Hits?

Property specialist Kellen Marshall was assigned the claim.

“I knew that it was Darrin’s daughter, but I didn’t treat them any differently than any other client,” Marshall says. “I’m always respectful and empathetic and try to do my absolute best for everyone.”

Walton tried to stay uninvolved in the claims process.

“I really tried hard to only give dad advice,” he says. “Courtney would call and ask me things, and I’d say, ‘Call Kellen, he’ll know.’ I bet I said that 100 times.”

“I would ask my dad questions, and he’d say, ‘Kellen is the expert, ask him,’” says Dripps. “Kellen was great! He called us the same day even though he was on vacation and put money in our account for things we needed immediately, like shoes and clothes. He was amazing and so knowledgeable. He made the claims process so easy to manage.”

For Walton, the experience was surreal.

“I’ve always had faith and the highest confidence in our claims staff,” he says. “I was able to relax and help Dan and Courtney breathe easier and trust the process. I’ve known for years that the claims staff is great and takes great care of our clients, but until you experience that firsthand, you don’t know for sure. I am so proud of the service we give our clients.”

The Dripps family has since purchased another house and is working toward rebuilding together. They lost things that can never be replaced, but as Courtney says, “We are all still family; that is all that matters.”

See more: Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance Offers New Smart Home Protection Program