Half of insured fire damage occurs in industries
Although most insured fires occur in homes, half of the total damage caused by fire occurs in industry, specifically 51.6%. This is explained by the fact that a fire in a home tends to be significantly less serious (its average cost is 3,378 Euro) than one that occurs in an industry (35,485 Euro), according to a study by UNESPA, in collaboration with CEPREVEN and TECNIFUEGO.
The insurance sector pays out around 600 million Euro per year due to damage caused by fires in buildings. Specifically, the insurance sector deals with a claim of this type every seven minutes and 12 seconds in Spain, according to a study by the insurance business association UNESPA, in collaboration with CEPREVEN and TECNIFUEGO (Spanish Association of Fire Protection Companies). The average cost of these events is 7,800 Euro. Although most of the insured fires occur in homes, half of the total damage caused by fire occurs in industries (51.6%). This is explained by the fact that a fire in a home tends to be significantly less serious (its average cost is 3,378 Euro) than a fire in an industry (35,485 Euro).
All these figures come from the information provided by 25 insurers, which together represent a market share of 77.8% in the multi-risk branch. The data also refer to incidents occurring between July 2021 and June 2022. An analysis by provinces reveals that the most serious incidents occurred in the provinces of Lérida (40,070 Euro per incident, on average), La Rioja (20,087 Euro) and Huesca (19,226 Euro). In contrast, Cordoba (2,156 euros), Teruel (2,702 euros) and Jaén (3,096 euros) were the least affected.
The provinces with the highest number of fires are those with the highest number of insured properties and also the highest population. The list is headed by regions such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville, among others. However, if the data are analysed in relative terms, it can be seen that Zamora, Soria, Segovia, Lérida and Huesca are the provinces where fires are most likely to break out.
Small towns
69% of the events recorded in the database occurred in homes. If fires in homes are added to those occurring in the common areas of buildings (and therefore covered by the insurance of the owners' association), this percentage rises to 78% of the events. Industrial fires accounted for 12% of the incidents in the 12 months studied. An analysis of the distribution of fires according to the size of the municipality shows that these incidents are widely distributed, although the data suggest that fires tend to be more frequent in small towns than in large municipalities.