As wildfires and accompanying destructive wind continue to ravage the Los Angeles area, businesses across all sectors await a reprieve and wonder what comes next.
Among them is Anywhere Integrated Services, title insurance subsidiary of Anywhere Real Estate, which has faced significant disruption. Patrick Frasier, president of the company’s West Coast operations, spoke candidly about current challenges and the resilience of his team in an exclusive interview with The Title Report.
“Our teams have been handling this as well as we could ever expect,” Frasier said. “All hands on deck is an understatement. We’ve been monitoring and keeping in touch with each of our employees in the impacted areas daily. The team created and shared a spreadsheet listing employees who have been displaced from their homes and where they’re located to ensure that everyone has a place to stay.”
The situation is not without additional complications.
“Sadly, we’ve had to take extra precautions against looting in areas that have been evacuated,” Frasier added. “The safety of our employees, our agents, and the information clients trust us with is paramount.”
Adapting operations, a historic disaster
Despite the disaster, Anywhere Integrated Services has managed to maintain operations, leveraging technology and teamwork.
“We’ve been able to maintain operations, in part due to our ability to close deals remotely and in part due to having facilitated work-from-home capabilities for much of our staff,” Frasier said. “This is helping folks who may have evacuated or been displaced stay connected and keep information flowing.”
Frasier addressed the importance of technology in maintaining continuity.
“As an Anywhere Real Estate company, we have access to remote online notarization services through a partnership with a security platform called Proof,” he said. “Reliable technology solutions are obviously vital in these situations. Ideally, these services will become more mainstream in the future.”
Frasier also highlighted the collective effort among employees.
“Our team members have been known to travel between offices to help each other out, and this situation has tested that willingness more than ever. I’m so proud of our people. They lead and move with heart,” he said.
As of Jan. 13, 24 people have been confirmed to have died as a result of the wildfires. That’s in addition to the displacement of thousands of others and destruction of 12,000-plus structures.
“Californians have weathered natural disasters like fires and earthquakes in the past, but nothing like this,” Frasier said. “Not to this extent. We will learn from this and put measures in place to help mitigate the risks, but right now it’s all about getting people to safety.”
While government agencies haven’t yet provided preliminary calculations, data firm AccuWeather estimates total Los Angeles area damage and economic losses to be at least $250 billion to $275 billion.
The fires have destroyed some of Anywhere Integrated Service’s locations.
“We have offices that have completely burned to the ground and some that are closed due to staff being evacuated, smoke damage, or the area simply being inaccessible,” said Frasier. “We’ve seen a range of outcomes—we have at least one employee who lost everything, and we’re waiting for confirmation on the homes of a few others.”
A message of resilience
Frasier’s message to his colleagues and clients is one of unity and perseverance.
“We are fortunate in that, as an organization, our people are all safe. I hope the same can be said for others,” he said. “We have a long road ahead of us. There is no quick fix when it comes to catastrophic events. We will get through this together and we will learn from this. We must lean on each other and support each other inside and outside of our industry as we rebuild.”
“Our people are safe and accounted for. That’s the best news to come out of the past few days.”