A fire at home costs on average 30,500 euros
A fire at home costs on average 30,500 euros
Along with the heating season, people have to think about not only about saving energy to reduce costs, but also to preserve the property from destruction. Every winter, dozens of families become homeless or incur tens of thousands of euros in damages due to careless handling of fire or neglect. If the house has not been insured, the restoration of the property has to be done using personal funds or donations.
Since the beginning of 2021, insurance joint-stock company “BTA Baltic Insurance Company” (hereinafter — BTA) has paid compensations to private individuals for properties damaged in fire in the amount of more than 500,000 euros during the period of heating season. Losses have been significant, as the average amount of one compensation is 30,500 euros.
In several cases, claim applications were received for a very typical problem — dried soot caught fire in the chimney and fire started. In other cases, the fire was caused by the door of central heating boiler that has not been closed tight enough, candles placed inattentively, stoves and electrical heaters.
“The State Fire and Rescue Service asks the house owners to clean the soot from the flues every year before the heating season. Unfortunately, more than 500 calls are received every year to extinguish fire caused by soot that has caught fire. Although, the fuel is more expensive and cost of living has increased significantly, I ask not to save on cleaning the chimney and maintenance of central heating boilers to avoid a very sad outcome — homelessness. People should not refuse home insurance, because, based on experience, it has helped hundreds of people in Latvia to deal with consequences of fire and other natural disasters,” said the Director of the Insurance Claims Department at BTA, Kārlis Liepiņš.
Kitchen of a family burned down when food caught on fire during routine cooking. Flames spread to the cooker hood where the dried fat increased them and allowed to reach the ceiling. After the fire was extinguished, people had to do kitchen repairs worth 4,200 euros that was compensated by BTA. In some cases, house owners were saved from bigger troubles by the fire detector that detected smoke on time and drew people’s attention with sound signal. Therefore, in the beginning of heating season, people should check whether the detector operates and its batteries are not discharged.
Statistics of the State Fire and Rescue Service warn about the frequency of fire. In 2021, in total 1,952 residential houses and 822 uninhabited constructions were on fire. 121 agricultural object was also on fire in 2021.
About BTA
BTA Baltic Insurance Company is one of the leading insurance companies in the Baltics, offering the broadest range of non-life insurance services in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. BTA employs more than 1,000 employees in the Baltics. The sole shareholder of BTA is Vienna Insurance Group AG (VIG), the leading insurance group both in Austria and in the entire Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. Around 50 insurance companies in 30 countries form a Group with a long-standing tradition, strong brands and close customer relations. The more than 25,000 employees in the VIG take care of the day-to-day needs of more than 22 million customers. VIG shares have been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1994. The VIG Group has an A+ rating with stable outlook by the internationally recognised rating agency Standard & Poor's. VIG cooperates closely with the Erste Group, the largest retail bank in Central and Eastern Europe.
Additional information:
Elīna Zvejniece
Marketing and Public Relations Department Director
BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS
e-mail elina.zvejniece@bta.lv
mobile: +371 29374827