OK, I get it. Just a fun exercise to play to let us say what camera gear is most important to us. But some of us (me at least) may have actually survived a house fire. Not a pleasant experience. Anyway, like BLKRCAT I have kits which contain my most important cameras and lenses. That would include my Fujica ST 901, Mamiya Super Press 23, and a Kiev with 5 lenses.
But actually, in a real situation, my first priority would be my wife, and grandkids if they were with us, then the dog. Frankly, I probably would not be concerned with the camera gear. In the house fire we had about 25 years ago, we were not home at the time, and the firemen were just going in as we arrived. Obviously we did not get in until after they had cleared the house. A lot of my gear was in the back of the utility room where the fire started. Anything there did not survive in a usable condition.
Interestingly, my Fujica and Mamiya kits were protected in a closet, by the drywall between the closet and the utility room. The Fujica camera and Fujinon lenses were in a canvas camera bag, and the Mamiya was in an aluminum case. I didn't have the Kiev kit then.
I was a little worried about the Fuji kit but apparently none of the smoke penetrated the canvas and certainly not the aluminum. I mention that as smoke as well as water that falls through the smoke, has acids that can/will attack electronics. My kits were on the floor so that was a concern, but not from heat because of the drywall and the fact that heat rises.
As an aside, because of the acids, insurance companies will probably tell you outright to replace radios, TVs, computers and such rather than have you keep coming back for months complaining about something else that suddenly quit working. If you have sufficient coverage for that, do it. But before you throw the other stull away (possibly even cameras) wash it good with running water. After all, it likely has already gotten wet, so a little more water isn't going to hurt it, and may well help. I did that and found it worked for two TVs, a Commodore computer and two disk drives (25 years ago, remember 😀). All my 5 1/4 disks were in a plastic sewing-type case and also survived. Most all my vinyl records, actually in the utility room survived, in their jackets, but to this day I haven't cleaned all of them. There will be a lot of micro-sized ash from a house fire.
The last point I would make is find out how your policy is written. If you are allowed to simply provide an estimate of the value of your gear, my advice would be to be liberal in your estimate, and then at least double it. Of course, you will pay more, but not so much considering. You may think all your gear, including clothes, appliances, furniture, tools, and other possessions are old, even if you have taken very good care of them. But you should be thinking in terms of replacement value.
If for example you have 5 sets of blue jeans, four of which a perfectly good to wear, but several years old, to replace them, you will have to pay current costs to do so. You will have to do that with all those things you have to replace. It will add up quickly.
By the way, while I think of it, I would experiment with washing anything like undamaged clothes, curtains, or bed-clothes myself first rather than sending the to an insurance suggested cleaners. They are expensive and may not really get the smoke smell out anyway. If you want to experiment, give them something, and when you get it back, wash it or at least mist it, to see if there is any smell left. No fun.
There will be smoke smell left in the surviving structure. There are companies that swear they have sealants they can use that will prevent you ever getting smoke smell. I did not trust that. I did not know it immediately, but found that I could get the house taken down to the foundation and completely rebuilt for just a little less than the estimate to have repairs (including sealant) made. We were lucky to have an incredibly good insurance agent. He agreed to allow us do that. It worked out well for us.
Back to the original intent of this thread, and let us all have fun with it as I am sure the OP intended. But I carry my fire-advice pedestal everywhere I go, and will jump up on it with the slightest provocation. After all, how many have gone through a house fire. So if you should be so misfortunate, what options do you know you might have? What worked for me may not work for any of you unfortunate enough to suffer through a house fire. But if my experiences have any value, I would feel bad not to have mentioned my experiences.
Back to your regularly scheduled bragging about favored cameras and gear. 😛
