Does Homeowners Insurance Include Fire Insurance?
Most home insurance covers fire and smoke damage to your house and property.
This includes wildfires. However, your insurance company may not cover fire damage if your home is considered high risk. In this case, you must buy a separate fire insurance policy.
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How does homeowners insurance cover fire damage?
Different parts of your homeowners policy cover specific types of fire damage.
For example, dwelling coverage pays for damage to the building you live in. Personal property coverage is for all your stuff inside your home. Even things that aren’t burned may need to be replaced due to the smell of smoke.
Make sure your home insurance policy provides enough coverage for all your valuables. You might need to add extra coverage for these items.
How much insurance do I need for a fire?
You need enough coverage to pay for rebuilding your house and replacing all your stuff.
If you don't have that much, you'll have to pay for the difference yourself. It can be tempting to lower your insurance bill by getting less coverage. You should get coverage for how much your home and stuff are worth. Too little coverage won't pay enough. Too much means you're paying for coverage you won't use.
The average cost of homeowners insurance is between $120 and $440 per month, depending on where you live and how much coverage you need.
Good amount of coverage
- Coverage limit: $300,000
- Cost of fire damage: $300,000
- Deductible: $1,000
What you pay: $1,000
Not enough coverage
- Coverage limit: $200,000
- Cost of fire damage: $300,000
- Deductible: $1,000
What you pay: $101,000
Claim payouts
Pay attention to whether your insurance is for “actual cash value” vs. “replacement value.”
Policies with actual cash value payouts are cheaper. This is because you’ll get less money for a claim. The insurance company will pay out based on what your things were worth when the fire happened. If your old laptop burned up, it may be worth only $200 at the time, but it could cost $1,000 to get a new one.
Replacement value coverage is more expensive. But insurance will pay to replace your things.
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Types of fire covered by homeowners insurance
Your insurance policy should pay to fix any damage done by most types of fire. Even if your policy doesn't cover the cause of the fire — such as an earthquake knocking down an electrical line — you can still make a claim with your regular insurance.
- Candles
- Cooking
- Electrical
- Gas leaks
- Heating elements
- Lightning strikes
- Power surges
- Earthquakes
- Wildfires
Home insurance typically covers wildfire damage
However, your company may not offer you wildfire insurance if you live in an area with frequent fires. In this case, you may need to pay extra for wildfire coverage or buy a separate policy. Once a wildfire starts, you can't buy a new policy to protect your home from fire damage. Most insurance companies won't sell policies in an area that's currently experiencing a wildfire. Others may have a 30- to 60-day waiting period before your coverage begins.
Types of fire not covered by homeowners insurance
Insurance companies won't pay for damage caused by neglect. For example, if you don't clean your chimney or dryer vents regularly and the built-up sap or lint causes a fire, the insurance company won't pay for repairs.
Insurance doesn’t cover arson if you set the fire
Whether your insurance company will cover arson depends on who started the fire. If you're a victim of arson, that's considered vandalism, and your insurance company should pay for the damage.
However, if a homeowner burns their house down on purpose, the insurance company will not cover the cost of fixing or replacing it.
How to get homeowners insurance when fire is a high risk
If you can't get standard insurance, you could get a state-sponsored policy.
Offered by many state governments, policies under FAIR can help if you don't qualify for standard insurance. If you live in a house with a high fire risk, companies may not offer homeowners insurance with fire coverage.
FAIR policies are meant to protect homeowners from big risks such as fire, flood and earthquake. The drawback is that they typically don’t cover damage from anything else.
You usually want to combine a FAIR policy with a standard homeowners insurance that will protect you from liability and other causes of damage like theft. You might see these plans called difference-in-conditions insurance.
Talk to a local insurance agent or your neighbors about which insurers they use.
Before you commit to a FAIR plan, make sure to get quotes from several home insurance companies. Every company evaluates risk differently. Just because one company denies you, it doesn't mean another will.
Frequently asked questions
Does homeowners insurance cover arson?
Home insurance may cover arson if you're the victim. In this situation, arson is a type of vandalism, which home insurance typically covers. However, your insurance company won't pay for arson damage if you started the fire.
Does home insurance cover fire?
Yes, most basic homeowners insurance policies cover fire and smoke damage. If you live in an area with a high risk of wildfires, your insurance company may not cover wildfire damage. Some companies also may not offer fire protection for older homes with higher fire risk, like those with dated electrical wiring.
Will insurance cover a house fire started by a cigarette?
Your home insurance policy will usually cover a fire started by a cigarette as long as it was an accident. Most insurance policies don't cover damage if you intentionally started the fire. Your company may not pay your claim if it believes you were negligent in cleaning up your cigarettes, which caused the fire.
Sources and methodology
Sources include web pages from insurance companies and states’ departments of insurance.
Rate data from Quadrant Information Services was used to find the average cost of homeowners insurance. Home insurance rates for every residential ZIP code in the U.S. from the largest homeowners insurance companies in every state was gathered.
Quotes were for a 45-year-old married man with no history of home insurance claims and a good credit score. Rates include the following coverage limits:
- Dwelling coverage: $350,000
- Personal liability coverage: $100,000
- Medical payments: $5,000
- Deductible: $1,000
These rates were publicly sourced from insurer filings and should be used for comparative purposes only. Your own quotes will likely be different.
Jenn Jones
Senior Writer
Jenn Jones is a Senior Writer at LendingTree where she covers auto, home, renters and motorcycle insurance topics.
Previously an editor for USA TODAY Blueprint and a finance manager at World Car dealerships, she has more than a decade of experience in the world of personal finance and a deep interest in sharing knowledge that empowers others. She’s also served as a freelance translator, copy editor, writer and researcher. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.S. in commerce and a B.A. in Chinese language and literature.
How insurance helped Jenn
Jenn first came to appreciate pet insurance when annual checkups for her cat and dog totaled more than $700.
Expertise
- Auto insurance
- Renters insurance
- Condo insurance
- Home insurance
Referenced by
- USA TODAY
- MSN
- F&I Magazine
- Automotive News
Education
- BS, Commerce, University of Virginia
- BA, Chinese Language and Literature, University of Virginia
Editorial Note: The content of this article is based on the author's opinions and recommendations alone. It has not been previewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed by any of our network partners.
