No one wants to see their house get damaged in a fire. It's a common occurrence to see a house fire story in the news; we see one every week happen in Texas. Usually it's the cause of weather, by either a lightning strike, or a wildfire.  Sometimes it's a freak accident & it happens everywhere in the state of Texas.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there were 112 house fire fatalities in 2021 & that's not all:

  • Texas alone has a higher average of EMS incidents (66%) compared to the rest of the country (64.6%)
  • Texas averaged 82.5% of injuries compared to the national average of 84.9.
  • 72.8% of injuries were a result of structural fire;
  • Vehicle injuries were 10.7%, the national average was 7.7%.
  • Currently Texas has nearly 100 house fire fatalities in 2022 (nearly beating the total from last year)
  • You can see all the statistics on the USFA website.

And that's not even considering the damage caused by wildfires: we've already exceeded the number of wildfires in the state we've had since 2021:

Now sometimes a fire is unavoidable so it's important to know what to do IF it happens. The Texas Department of Insurance offers their 7 tips on how to prevent a house fire:

  • Test smoke alarms.
  • Install carbon monoxide detectors in your home.
  • Watch the cooking; don't leave the kitchen unattended while making food.
  • Be careful with space heaters.
  • Inspect any electrical cords.
  • Be wildfire aware. Even in areas where we don't have forests (Like El Paso), it's still very possible to have fires occur because of the dry air.
  • Have an escape plan.

Other helpful places you can go to:

You can find a list of EVERY Fire Department in Texas on the Texas Commission of Fire Protection website.

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