Apartment fires have become frequent in area of the Wiregrass. In many cases, flames have destroyed old houses converted into individual units and leaving some residents with nothing.

By some estimates nearly 1 out of ever 3 Americans rent their homes. However a good portion has not considering insuring their possessions in case of an emergency.

Dothan Fire Marshal, Danny Appling, says "We cannot attack a fire as we normally would. We go from the unburned side to the burned portion. In this particular case we went into the unburned side which was the first apartment…and found a dead end and had to come out to find another way in."

Dothan firefighters have responded to many apartment fires this year. Many of them in old houses that have been converted in to apartments and a lot of times residents are left with almost nothing.

"Many Americans are under the impression that the landlord has coverage for the possessions. They do have coverage but it is for the dwelling. Your possessions would need to be covered under your policy," says Andrew Anderson with Allstate insurance.

A recent survey by all state shows that 40 percent of renter's nationwide do not have renter's insurance.

Anderson says there is misconception insurance is extremely expensive for renters.

"It really isn't, nationwide it ranges from 15-20 dollars a month for covering your possessions," says Anderson.

And once you are covered Anderson says creating a written and visual list can help recover lost items.

"Take a video camera and go through every part of your house and videotape everything. If you don’t have a video camera handy take a home inventory. Write down some of your major purchases...you TV's and stereos. Write down the make and model serial number," adds Anderson.

Waiting to long to get insurance could leave you with nothing in the blink of an eye so there's something you should ask yourself.

Different agencies deal with replacement costs differently so an individual can look around to see what works best for them.