Smoking ban may see fires in the home increase

Abbey Home Insurance is warning of a potential rise in the number of smoking related damage that will be caused to homes following the introduction of the England-wide smoking ban to begin on July 1st of this year. Research shows that as much as £11 billion of damage is caused to homes each year by smoking related fires.

The bank’s analysis of industry data from the last ten years suggests that on average 425,000 fires are started in domestic dwellings each year by smoking materials causing on average £25,500 of damage per household.

Despite a downward trend in the last ten years in the number of fires started in the home by smoking, Abbey is warning that this may change as more people opt to stay in or have parties at home rather than in a bar where they will no longer be allowed to smoke.

Prasad Shastri, Head of Insurance Marketing at Abbey, said: "The landscape of social behaviour is going to change quite dramatically following the smoking ban, and we anticipate that people are likely to spend more time entertaining at home rather than going out. This could well have an adverse effect on the number of fires started in the home and we would ask everyone to be extra careful and take simple precautions to protect their homes and the people in them" .

A recent Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) announcement in January this year also suggests that these are the biggest cause of fire-related deaths in the home. Nearly a third of all households have a smoker living in them. There are an average of 132 deaths and 1,600 injuries in accidental home fires caused by smoking materials.

According to the DCLG following some simple precautions you can prevent a fire in your home:

Take extra care when you’re tired, taking any sort of drugs or have been drinking alcohol.

It’s very easy to fall asleep without while your cigarette is still burning.

Never smoke in bed - if you need to lie down, don’t light up. You could doze off and set your bed on fire.

Never leave lit cigarettes, cigars or pipes unattended - they can easily overbalance as they burn down.

Buy child-resistant lighters and matchboxes - every year children die by starting fires with matches and lighters. Keep these where children can’t reach them.

Use a proper, heavy ashtray that can’t tip over easily and is made of a material that won’t burn. Make sure your cigarette is not still burning when you are finished - put it out, right out.

Tap your ash into an ashtray, never a wastebasket containing other rubbish - and don’t let the ash or cigarette ends build up in the ashtray.

Fit and maintain a smoke alarm - when a fire starts, you only have a few minutes to escape. A working smoke alarm can buy you valuable time to get out, stay out and dial 999. You can get a basic smoke alarm for the same price as a packet of cigarettes. Better still are those smoke alarms with long-life batteries or are mains-powered.

Abbey offers unlimited sum insured (Peace of Mind) and specified sum insured (Essentials) home insurance policies that cover you in the event of accidental damage caused at your home.

Abbey Peace of Mind insurance policy has been given a five star rating (for homes with 5 bedrooms or fewer) by Defaqto, for the second year running.