In the first 48 hours after a major incident such as a fire, a storm or a building-wide failure, a property team has five jobs:

• account for every resident

• make the site safe and secure

• meet the insurance policy's duties

• start the records

• communicate on a set schedule

Work in three windows: the first hour, the first day and the second day, with one person in charge throughout.

For example: at 2:10 a.m., a fire starts in a third-floor unit of a 120-unit building. By 3:00, the fire department has it out. Six units are damaged, twenty more have smoke and water damage, and the power to one wing is off.

By 7:00, the property manager has 40 missed calls. Residents want to know where to sleep tonight. The owner wants a number. The insurer's hotline wants a claim reference. A restoration contractor is already in the parking lot asking who authorizes the work.

Everyone is asking reasonable questions, and they all arrive at once. The first 48 hours decide whether the team answers them in order, or in whatever order they ring.

Who is in charge?

One person: the incident lead, usually the property manager or the regional manager. Everyone else feeds information to them, and every decision about access, spending, statements and residents goes through them.

That doesn't mean one person does everything. It means residents, owners, insurers and vendors each hear one consistent account. Name a deputy too, because 48 hours is longer than anyone can work alone.

Hour one: people first

Where emergency services attend, they control the scene. The property team's first hour is about people and information.

• Account for every resident. Work from the current occupancy list, and give it to emergency services if they ask for it, flagging any residents who may need help to leave. RIOO's guide to disaster preparedness explains why that list is the first thing a manager needs, and why so many operations can't produce it quickly.

• Don't re-enter until the scene is cleared. The team doesn't decide when it's safe to go back in. The fire department, building officials or other qualified professionals do.

• Make the first two calls. One to the regional manager or owner, and one to the on-call maintenance lead.

• Start the log. Every call, decision, entry and expense, with the time. Everything after this depends on it.

Day one: secure, protect, notify

• Secure the site. Board up openings, fence damaged areas, and shut off or isolate the utilities serving the damaged sections. Keep a record of who did each job, and when.

• Protect the property from further damage. This is more than common sense. It's usually a condition of the insurance policy. Standard property policies require the insured to give prompt notice of the loss, and to take all reasonable steps to protect the property from further damage, keeping a record of the expenses.

• Notify the insurer the same day. Prompt notice lets the insurer investigate before evidence is lost or destroyed. Record the claim number and the adjuster's name.

• Document before anything is moved. Photograph everything before cleanup starts. RIOO's preparedness guide covers what to capture, and why receipts for emergency mitigation work matter.

• Separate the costs from day one. Set up dedicated work orders or job codes for incident expenses, so they're never mixed into normal operating costs. The insurer, the owner and the auditors will all want them separately.

• Support displaced residents. Identify which residents can't return tonight. Give them clear information on what you know, what you don't, and when they'll hear next. Point them to their own renter's insurance, and to local relief organizations where needed.

• Send the first resident update. Even if the news is "we don't know yet," say when the next update will come, and keep to it. Some cities set their own contact standards. In Austin, for example, landlords under the city's repeat offender program must be able to contact all tenants within two hours in an emergency.

Day two: assess and decide

Assess every affected unit. Sort them into three groups:

• habitable now

• habitable after repairs

• uninhabitable

Base the sorting on qualified professional and official assessments, not appearances.

Check the lease and the law for each damaged unit. For residential properties, fire and casualty rules differ by state, and the deadlines can be short:

• Delaware: a tenant may quit with notice within one week of vacating.

• Kentucky: under its URLTA rules, either party may terminate on 14 days' notice, and a tenant may vacate immediately.

• South Carolina:

  a tenant who vacates must notify the landlord in writing within seven days.

RIOO's state repair guides, such as those for Delaware, Kentucky and South Carolina, cover the detail.

Review billing for affected units before the next charge goes out. Don't assume rent should continue, pause, reduce or be credited until the lease and the applicable casualty rules are confirmed. A resident who can't live in their home shouldn't receive an automatic rent demand while the team works out the answer.

Update the owner and lender. Cover what happened, the units affected, residents displaced, the insurer's involvement, and the next steps. Many loan documents require notice of a casualty, so check yours.

Plan the week ahead. Restoration schedule, resident updates, the adjuster's visit and staffing.

What gets recorded?

Who owns each step?

What should leadership watch?

No two incidents are the same, but every one should leave the team better prepared. Within a week or two, hold a short review:

• What took longest in the first hour, and why.

• Which record was missing when someone asked for it.

• Whether residents got updates when they were promised.

And one control question: if an incident happened at any property tonight, does everyone know who the incident lead would be, and where the occupancy list is? If the answer depends on reaching one person by phone, the plan has a gap.

Where RIOO fits

RIOO is property management software built directly on NetSuite.

• Requests and work in one place. In RIOO, repair notices and response times are recorded in Service Request & Task Management, and planned work sits in Maintenance Planning & Scheduling, so incident-related work can be recorded within the maintenance workflow.

• Every tenant interaction tracked. RIOO tracks every tenant interaction from one dashboard, so resident contact and updates have a record during the response.

Note:This blog is operational guidance, not legal or insurance advice. Where emergency services attend an incident, they direct the scene, and your insurance policy, leases and local law set your obligations. Last reviewed October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What should a property manager do first after a major incident?
Account for every resident and support emergency services where they attend, without re-entering until the scene is cleared. Then name one incident lead, make the first calls to the owner and maintenance lead, and start a timed log.

Q2. When should the insurer be notified after a fire or storm?
As soon as possible, usually the same day. Property policies generally require prompt notice of a loss, and prompt notice lets the insurer investigate before evidence is lost.

Q3. What does "protect the property from further damage" mean?
Taking reasonable steps such as boarding up openings, shutting off damaged utilities and starting drying, and keeping a record of what those steps cost. Property policies commonly require it.

Q4. What should be documented after a major incident?
A timed log of every decision and call, photographs taken before cleanup, resident status by unit, incident costs on their own codes, and copies of every notice sent to the insurer and lender.

Q5. What happens to rent when a unit is uninhabitable after a fire?
It depends on the lease and state law. Many states have residential fire and casualty rules that let a tenant end the lease or reduce rent, sometimes with short notice deadlines, so check the rules for each property before deciding how to bill.

Q6. How often should residents be updated after an incident?
On a set schedule, and always at the time you promised, even when the news is "no change." Some cities also set emergency contact standards for landlords.

Q7. Who should lead the response to a major incident?
One named incident lead, usually the property manager or regional manager, with a deputy. Every decision and statement goes through them, so everyone hears one consistent account.

Q8. How should incident costs be tracked?
On dedicated work orders or job codes from the first day, kept separate from normal operating costs, with receipts for emergency repairs. That makes the insurance claim and owner reporting far easier.