It might be the height of summer for the rest of us. However, people living in New South Wales have experienced a freak cold spell. As a result of the poor conditions, more people have chosen to use heating systems to warm their property. Unfortunately, that has led to an increase in house fires. No less than eighteen homes have burned to the ground since the beginning of July 2015. Local fire officers have issued warnings and advice for all residents. Their chief representative was quoted as saying:
“People who live in the NSW area need to be more careful when heating their homes during this cold spell. The weather is unpredictable, but you must prepare for the worst. Get an electrical heating system installed as soon as you can. We hope conditions will improve during the next few days. My team is stretched to the limit thanks to the eighteen fires we’ve already witnessed.”
Insurance companies have launched investigations into the events. As we all know, they will try anything to get out of paying for renovations. It is not yet understood why so many homes have burned to the ground. Experts are predicting that at least some of the victims left open fires unattended. The NSW Council released a statement claiming that over 16% of properties in their jurisdiction contain a wood burning stove. It is predicted those items were involved in some of the cases.
There are also some other things residents might like to consider. The statistics show the number of house fires in Australia has more than doubled in recent years. Many of them were caused by faulty appliances. That is why everyone living in the country is advised to use appliance tagging services. Getting their products assessed once each year could help to reduce the risk of fire. That will, in turn, save the emergency services a lot of money.
Some of the house fires that occurred last month happened because people used makeshift heating solutions. Firefighters have warned against residents doing that in the future. They say that overheating the wires in your walls will put your family at risk. Also, leaving heating systems on overnight is a big problem. You simply aren’t around to witness the problem if something starts to go wrong.
Out of all the house fires in NSW this year, only two have required firefighters to pull people out of the blaze. However, there is no certainty that trend will continue if people fail to take heed. The last thing anyone wants is for their child to find themselves trapped in a burning building. So, it is vital that everyone starts to think more carefully about how they heat their property.
With a bit of luck, the cold spell will pass and residents will no longer need to use heating devices. Just use some common sense and try to ensure you don’t need the fire service this summer. They are busy enough dealing with other things.