What you can learn from 150 house fires

Every year around 150 FMG insurance clients experience a damaging house fire. This is what they’ve learned that could help prevent this trauma happening to you.

The leading causes of house fires in rural areas differ from those in urban areas

One big difference is households in rural areas are twice as likely to use wood fires for heating and so are more likely to experience a fireplace or chimney fire.

The damage caused by rural house fires is often worse

This is because of the extra time it takes for emergency services to arrive. It takes around 7-8 minutes for a fire truck to arrive at an urban fire, 10 minutes or more for a rural fire.

75 per cent of rural house fire claims are caused by four things

• chimneys and fireplaces

• switchboards and wiring

• appliances

• kitchen fires

Be careful what you have around your fireplace

Fireplaces account for almost 20 per cent of claims. These often involve rugs, carpets and fireplace surroundings catching fire due to a lack of proper fire guards.

Ashes are warmer than you think

Fires also start from ashes not being properly disposed of. In a number of claims, ashes were placed in boxes or other combustible containers on a porch or deck and then reignited, leading to significant damage.