Cape Town - With at least 13 houses damaged by the fires sweeping the South Peninsula – and three destroyed – insurance companies are bracing themselves for a slew of claims.
Donald Kau, head of corporate affairs at Santam, said property owners should ensure policies were up to date and work with their brokers to ensure their claims were properly submitted and processed.
The firm’s claims department and assessors were on standby to receive and attend to claims from the affected areas.
Kau said: “Santam has experience in dealing with large fire-related claims from previous incidents, such as the St Francis fires in 2012, which was valuable in terms of lessons learnt. Santam was able to settle all the claims received – amounting to about R40 million – either by replacing or repairing homes of various values ranging between R1m and R16m.”
He advised homeowners to check their insurance policies annually and ensure that the household contents sum was in line with the current replacement value of goods.
“Make sure all new items, such as television sets and sound systems, bought during the course of the year have been added to your policy. Keep policy documentation safe and in one place, keep a file at the office to ensure you always have access to it should your home burn down. Homeowners who live in houses with thatched roofs should take extra precautionary measures such as hosing down thatched roofs and using fire blankets, have fire extinguishers and, where possible, install drenchers.”
Kau said a significant challenge for intermediaries in the immediate aftermath of fires was working with clients to ensure the accurate assessment of the replacement costs of building, contents, vehicles and other lost goods.
John Melville, head of risk services at Sanlam, said the firm has placed a much bigger focus on fire management over the past five years. “Fire, and the damage it causes, is an enormous concern to us. It is one of the factors that has a direct impact on the sustainability of the short-term insurance industry, both here in South Africa and globally. The challenge lies in forming co-operative partnerships with local government, regulators and communities. We need a collective effort to effectively fight fire.”
Melville said statistics from the Goodwood Fire Station for early January indicate that the number of incidents responded to in Cape Town had increased from 3 456 for the 2013/2014 season to 7 949 this season. The number of structural fires had increased from 331 to 694, and the number of wildfires had increased from 1 535 to 2 390.
Jonathan Lewarne, Momentum spokesman and head of sales and client services, said personal safety always came first. “Fire is an insured peril under most short-term insurance contracts, and clients are advised to refer to the specific policy perils in their short-term insurance contract since they will need to be covered for what has been damaged by fire, such as building, home contents and vehicles…”
David Rebe, chief executive of the Sandak-Lewin Property Trust, said the fires should be a wake-up call to property owners and body corporates who own property high up on the mountains or next to large open fields. “Fire season is upon us and it is the responsibility of body corporates and property owners to ensure the correct fire prevention requirements are in place to prevent or minimise the impact of fires.”
The first step was to ensure fire extinguishers were working and close to places where fires could be expected, such as kitchens.
Cape Argus