Wind storm claims information for base employees

  • Published
  • By Derek Kaufman
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  The base legal office here has good news for Airmen and base federal civilian employees who suffered damage to personal property resulting from the Sept. 14 wind storm.

The Military Personnel and Civilian Employees Claims Act may be able to help. The act provides protection for extraordinary acts of nature, like severe weather events affecting military installations.

The Act may apply for example to an Airman who had a vehicle damaged on base by a falling tree.

There are caveats for claims filed under the Act, said Tech. Sgt. Erica Bairos, non-commissioned officer in charge of general law at the base legal office. For example, in many areas, at different times of the year, storms occur routinely, and damage claims from regularly occurring storms normally are not paid. However, if a particular storm is of extreme intensity, or causes damage to an unexpected degree of severity, it may be considered an unusual occurrence.

The Act provides assistance to Airmen and federal civilian employees, but not contractors or non-appropriated fund personnel, Bairos said.   It is a "gratuitous payment statute." It does not provide insurance coverage and is not designed to make the United States a total insurer of the personal property. 

"Before filing a claim, a claimant must first file a damage or loss claim with their private insurer," Bairos said. "After you have completed and received your final insurance settlement letter you may start the Air Force claims process." 

The process is accomplished online via the Air Force Claims Service Center Web site. 

This can be accomplished from a government computer at https://claims.jag.af.mil. If you do not have access to a government computer, call the Air Force Claims Service Center at (937) 656-8044, or 1-877-754-1212 to obtain a username and password that is valid for 60 days to file from any computer.

You can also get general information from any computer about filing claims online at http://legalassistance.law.af.mil/.

The Chief, Air Force Claims Service Center with the recommendation of the base Staff Judge Advocate makes determination on whether the Act applies and is the final authority, Bairos said.