*PSA* First American to aid California fire victims

First American Title Insurance Co. announced it will replace recorded mortgage documents, property tax information, recorded deeds and tax assessor maps at no charge for homeowners who lost their homes in the recent fires in Southern California.

"We recognize that California is not immune to natural disasters and we want to help those homeowners who lost their homes by providing any information that may be useful in recovering from these devastating fires," said Mark Sachau, First American Title Insurance's divisional president for California and Hawaii.

In addition to complimentary document replacement, First American is offering a 40 percent discount on title insurance for fire victims securing a new deed of trust or a construction loan on those lost properties.

First American had closed eight offices because of the fires in Southern California. The San Diego Superior Court was expected to reopen Oct. 29 after being closed for nearly a week.

"All court locations will begin accepting filings on Oct. 29, 2007 during regular court business hours," according to a statement on the court's Web site. "If you mailed any filings that would have been received by the court between Oct. 22, 2007 and Oct. 26, 2007, or dropped any filings after hours during the past week, those documents will all be processed beginning on Monday, Oct. 29, 2007."