FENDING OFF FIRES TO BE A FORCE FOR SOCIAL GOOD

A SMALL FLAME CAN TURN INTO A MAJOR FIRE WITHIN AS LITTLE AS 30 SECONDS. THIS IS WHY QUICK AND EFFICIENT EMERGENCY SERVICE IS SO IMPORTANT TO HAVE ACCESS TO.

The reality is that fire risk and the outbreak of fires themselves are highly prevalent in South Africa. According to the Fire Protection Association of Southern Africa, the number of reported fires in the country as of 2020 has increased by 68% since 2011. Now with more than 60 000 annual fires reported, the country is in dire need of more support.

"Fires are unfortunately on-the-rise. We have identified fires as an increasing risk in recent times and we feel we can help to provide a solution for them through another productive partnership. We now offer our clients additional protection for their vehicles, homes, and businesses to help safeguard against the potentially devastating impact of a fire," says Discovery Insure Chief Executive, Anton Ossip.

THE SOLUTION? DISCOVERY INSURE'S 'FIRE FORCE'

In partnership with Advanced Emergency Management Solutions (AEMS), Discovery Ensure launched Fire Force in June 2022 as a private sector solution to the very real fire problem currently faced by our country.

The challenge with the outbreak of fires as they affect people's homes, businesses and vehicles is that a significant number of incidents take place in urban areas.

"We know that the number of people living in urban areas is increasing daily. So, this raises risk by default. According to the National Development Plan, it is estimated that more than 70% of the country's population will be living in urban areas by 2030 - a year that is not too far ahead in the future," says Ossip. "With increased urbanisation, cities become more densely populated. This means that fires have the potential to spread quickly."

"Discovery Insure has also identified that the probability for the outbreak of a fire during winter in Gauteng is 60% higher than in summer as more people make use of heating systems to try and keep warm," he adds.

Common causes include:

• Electrical failures (oftentimes due to poor electrical installation or load shedding)
• Overheating of electronic devices
• Poor installation of chimneys and flue pipes
• Poor housekeeping (i.e. forgetting about lit candles or lanterns etc.)

The risk is real and can be devastating

Fires can easily result in:

• Severe injuries and death: At least 1.6 million South Africans experience burn injuries every year and deaths as a result are on the increase too.
• Damage to property: A home fire can easily engulf an entire house within as little as 5 minutes.
• Major interruptions to business operations: According to the U.S. Small Business Association, most small businesses can be financially ruined within 6 hours of experiencing a fire.

"According to the Fire Protection Association of Southern Africa, fire damages amounted to more than R23 billion during 2020. This highlights just how dire our fire response needs are in South Africa. And hence, why we feel so strongly about doing something to minimise damage, protect the lives of our clients, as well as curb business interruptions as best we can," says Ossip.

What is Fire Force?

"Fire Force is a valuable partnership that will provide private emergency firefighting assistance to our clients. It's a market-first innovation in the insurance industry and serves as a true manifestation of our business value of being a force for good."

"To kickstart the initiative we are focussing on the Johannesburg area, offering clients based in this region a value-added benefit on their car and home or business insurance plan," explains Ossip.

Where will you find Fire Force?

"Data from Fire Protection of South Africa has shown that a fire also occurs every 6 hours in Johannesburg alone. Most of our personal lines and business insurance clients are in the Johannesburg area. We insure more than 30 000 homes. That amounts to 25% of our home insurance book with a total sum insured of R90 billion and an average insured value of R2.9 million."

"On the business side, at least 33% are located in the Johannesburg area with the average sum insured per policy being R9.7 million," Ossip adds.

For this reason, the Fire Force team will be operating in and around the greater Johannesburg area, making this service primarily available to our many clients in this region.

HOW WILL FIRE FORCE HELP TO SMOULDER FLAMES?

The Fire Force team, which makes use of Discovery Insure's risks management expertise along with the firefighting expertise of the AEMS, includes fully-manned and equipped vehicles that will take a holistic approach to fighting fires by utilising a fleet of different vehicles - trucks, smaller vehicles like mini-busses and motorbikes. All these vehicle options help to provide emergency rapid response to reported fires. Once reported, a team of well-trained and experienced fire fighters will be immediately dispatched.

• The smaller vehicles (or rapid response vehicles) will be dispatched first to reach the scene of the reported fire quickly. These vehicles are fitted with high pressure units which can be immediately connected to garden hoses at homes where a fire has broken out.
• Motorbikes can carry fire blankets and can quickly reach the scene of a reported fire, especially if there is extreme traffic congestion en route.
• Fire trucks will be dispatched for larger fires.

"To offer this value-added service, we at Discovery Insure sought to partner with AEMS - a dynamic group of companies that is renowned as a world-class private emergency management provider," says Ossip. "These companies include Medi Response, Rural Metro and Fire Ops SA and collectively have more than 30 years of high-quality operational experience that spans firefighting assistance, rescue and hazmat response, fire safety compliance and professional firefighting training."

"Since May 2021, AEMS has dispatched more than 1, 000 vehicles in response to emergency fires across South Africa. So, we're confident that this partnership has everything in place to successfully fend off more fires in and around the greater Johannesburg area in a way that truly saves homes, businesses and most importantly, people's lives," he concludes.