In the first three months of this year, thirty Belgians already died in a house fire. “2024 is already a pitch-black year,” says fire prevention specialist Tim Renders.
Last Monday, a 69-year-old woman died in a house fire in Ronse, but that fire is not even included in the statistics that ex-firefighter Tim Renders keeps on his own initiative. For more than ten years, Renders has been counting home fires with fatal consequences in Belgium, with the exception of ignited fires.
The balance sheet for 2024 is already particularly difficult. “I note that 2024 is already a pitch-black year in terms of fire safety and I am really shocked by this,” Renders writes on his website. To date, house fires have already claimed thirty lives in Belgium. Since 2014, that number has never been this high at this time of year. And with that we have already reached half of the total number of deaths of 2023. Then 60 people died.
Tim Renders. — © if
Of all thirty deaths, sixteen died in Flanders. The other fourteen were in Wallonia. “If you limit it to Flanders, that is one death every six days,” says Renders. “I cannot fully explain this evolution because I do not do fire research, but I am convinced that there are more fire risks in our homes today than in the past. I mean the rechargeable batteries that are in everything nowadays: from smartphones to laptops to electric bicycles. Worst of all are the electric scooters and hoverboards. These batteries lose stability if they sustain damage and collisions and falls are common with these means of transport. You also see them lying on the ground everywhere in major cities. The worse we treat our equipment, the greater the risk of fire.”
Renders has been advocating for years that governments in our country should focus more on prevention and campaigns. “People may know that they need to install smoke detectors. But which one? Where exactly should they hang? How should you maintain them and what is the expiration date? It’s not just hanging and done. More awareness is needed about this.”