A third of the fire damage in UK homes during 2003 was not covered by insurance, costing homeowners £126m, said supermarket insurer Asda.
The company said the cost of fire damage has risen by £27m in the past five years, not helped by the number of homes which are underinsurered for contents.
Asda director of financial services Gev Lynott, said: “The average bill for fire damage in the home is around £900 but can rise to thousands. If you're underinsured, you could be looking at a hefty bill, on top of the stress of seeing your personal effects destroyed.
“We strongly urge homeowners to protect themselves on two fronts; by installing smoke alarms and making sure you have adequate home insurance.”
He added: “"In many instances a fire and the subsequent damage caused could be avoided by spending just £3.97 on a smoke alarm.
“One in five people don't have a smoke alarm in their home, usually because they don't believe they're at risk or haven't got around to buying one.
“Nearly eight out of ten homes don't own a fire extinguisher, which could potentially halt a fire before it takes hold”
Asda has launched a 'fight fire' campaign to make homeowners aware of the problem of underinsurance and to encourage the purchase of fire prevention devices such as smoke-alarms, fire extinguishers and fire blankets.
