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Digging Through the Ashes

State Farm Agent Races Half Way Across the Globe to Aid Policyholders in Fire-ravaged Southern California

By Lindsay Robison

When disaster strikes you, your family, your friends, your hometown, the last place you want to be is far away from who and what matters the most. Last October when the wildfires that cost more than $1 billion in damage broke out across Southern California, Karen Wroan, a State Farm agent in San Diego, was halfway across the world in Israel visiting a former client’s daughter, with whom she had grown close over the years. Although she hadn’t seen this friend and her family in years and had been planning this trip to Israel for some time, when she heard the news of the fires and knew that her family, friends, and clients back home were in danger, home was the only place she wanted to be.

“If it was covering that much space I was going to have scads of people affected,” Wroan says. “I had to be with everybody. I immediately got on the phone and found out what it would take to change my flight. I was a little concerned because of the security; it did take two days, but it wasn’t too bad.”

Two days to get home may have seemed like forever, but it didn’t take her any time at all to get to work, doing whatever she could for her clients. She flew into Los Angeles at 7 a.m., drove two hours to San Diego, took enough time to change her clothes, and got down to business.

While she has quite the story to tell – racing home from Israel not really knowing what to expect and getting to work digging through the ashes with her clients – she doesn’t think she’s the story. The story, to her, is the people who lost everything and those who reached out to help when they really didn’t have to.

One story particularly touched her. Even if this client believes Wroan helped him tremendously, she doesn’t want the credit. She says she was just doing her job, and the credit – the story – goes to her client and the independent adjuster who was meeting with him.

This independent adjuster was helping with one of Wroan’s five total losses, doing what he was supposed to do – taking photos, getting the particulars on the house, etc. As he was finishing up, getting ready to leave for his next appointment, Wroan was speaking with her client about his being a Vietnam War veteran and how a friend had found one of his medals in the ruins of his home. She wanted to know if there were more.

The client told her about his Bronze Star. She wanted to know where in the house it had been stored so she could try to salvage it. Even though the adjuster had only 15 minutes until his next appointment, when he overheard them talking he offered to help.

“Mind you, I am not the story, as you can see,” Wroan says. “I had my boots, my mask, my gloves – I came ready to do that. He did not. But off he goes into the ash with me. He has on his loafers, his Dockers, no gloves, no mask, and he’s digging through the ashes.”

Within the soot and rubble, the adjuster was able to find the medal. When he opened the box the client kept it in, he found the ribbon completely burned, the medal singed but still intact. Wroan’s client immediately started thanking the adjuster. “And to this man’s credit, he says, ‘Don’t thank me. The ‘thanks comes from me for your service to our country. It was my honor to find your medal.’ It was a very emotional moment. He was amazing,” she says.

When the adjuster left, Wroan returned to the area where they found the Bronze Star. She continued to dig through the ash hoping to find more keepsakes. She found a belt buckle. “This taught me my biggest lesson,” she says. “I found this belt buckle and took it to him. He burst into tears and said ‘You have no idea what you’ve just found. This is the only thing I have left that my brother actually owned and wore.’ It taught me that when somebody loses everything, they lose everything. You can never assume anything is worthless. You can find a lump of melded silver, but it could be something to somebody when they’ve lost everything. It was a really great lesson, and it made me so glad I came back.”

Had Wroan not been able to make it back to California from Israel, she knew her staff would have been able to take care of the claims. But being able to work with her clients who had been affected, she knew then that coming home was what she had needed to do.

“This was the first disaster for two of my team members,” she says. “It touched them and was sad for them. This country is worried and concerned. It’s amazing how caring people are, to get other people back on their feet. In our career we have the privilege and honor to be part of the solution.”