Part of
performing insurance inspections involves asking homeowners some
pretty basic questions. Among these questions are: 1) do you have any
smoke detectors, 2) do you have any carbon monoxide detectors, and 3)
do you have any fire extinguishers?
85% of
all interviews result in a “yes” to #1. Carbon monoxide detectors
lag a bit, but my memory puts them at 50-60%.
Fire
extinguishers, on the other hand, appear to be more of a generational
thing. When the age of the insured is 60+, then I would put the
percentage of those having extinguishers at 60%. And not just one
extinguisher—if a 60+ insured has one, then he or she often comes
out and indicates (without prompting) that there's an extinguisher in
the kitchen, basement, attic, and garage.
As an
aside—care to guess which group makes up a lot of the 15% who don't
have smoke detectors?
As for
younger insureds, stating that 25% having a single fire extinguisher
would be a generous estimation, but generosity is acceptable to this
story. The point is that a gap exists, and it appears to be age-related.
What to
make of this gap? An oversimplification is that younger people seem
to be more inclined to dial 911, GTFO, and let the authorities deal
with a problem. Older folks prefer to have the ability to take action
before following the same pattern, even if such an ability is more of
an illusion. While one can't put out every fire with a fire
extinguisher, I've yet to hear of anyone who can successfully fight a
fire with a cell phone. When seconds count and the fire station is
minutes away—or when a fire is still small enough to spare a
house—at least having the option would seem prudent.
