What happens after a fire?

What to Expect from Curo After a Fire in Your Home

A fire can be a devastating and traumatic experience that impacts not only your home and belongings but also your peace of mind. At Curo, we’re here to support you during this challenging time and will do everything we can to make the process easier.

This guide explains what you can expect from us in the hours and days following a fire. It outlines the steps we will take, what services we can provide, and where you can find further assistance.

Your immediate safety

If a fire occurs in your home, our top priority is your safety. Here’s what will happen:

• Emergency Response and Contact

If a fire occurs within normal hours, a Housing or Repairs Manager will get in touch with you as soon as we’re told about the incident.

If a fire occurs when our offices are closed, as soon as we are notified our out-of-hours service team will notify an on-call Housing or Repairs Manager, who will reach out to you as soon as possible. Our out-of-hours team can be reached using the normal Curo number, 01225 366000.

• Working with Emergency Services

We will work closely with the fire service to confirm that you and your family are safe, understand the extent of the damage, and determine whether your home is safe to stay in. If staying in your home is unsafe, we will help find alternative accommodation for you.

How we can help

• Alternative accommodation and temporary housing

If you have family or friends nearby, we may ask you to stay with them while we arrange temporary repairs.

If this isn’t possible, we’ll do our best to find a hotel or other temporary accommodation for you in line with our Emergency Housing, Decant and Homeloss Policy.

If the damage is severe, and more extensive repairs are needed, or if it’s not safe for you to stay in your home we’ll help arrange longer-term accommodation. Please be aware that this might not be in the same area as your home.

We’ll arrange a hotel or other temporary accommodation if it’s unsafe for you to stay in your home and you have no other options.

• Specialist Clean

We’ll provide a specialist clean of the most affected areas in your home. This clean will focus on walls, doors, and accessible surfaces impacted by smoke. Personal belongings, including carpets, curtains and furniture, will not be included in the clean.

• Transportation and Meals

If needed, we can arrange transport to your temporary accommodation, and we will arrange for breakfast and a meal at the hotel.

• Regular Communication

We’ll assign you a named contact from our team as a single point of contact, who will make sure you are kept up to date with any progress, updates, and next steps.

• Safety Checks

We’ll check that electric and gas (if present) are safe to use. We’ll check smoke, heat and carbon monoxide detectors and replace them where required. We’ll check that any asbestos in your home is still undisturbed and safe to be left in place. If we do need to remove any then we’ll complete the work and repair any damage (but not including any matching redecoration).

You will need to make sure your own appliances are still safe to use and if not arrange for their replacement under your own insurance.

• Securing the property

If you are unable to immediately return to your home we will make sure that it is secured for you.

If you have to leave your property unattended, if possible close all the windows and doors. If windows or doors need boarding up we can do this for you. Remove valuables and important documents if it is safe to do so.

Keeping safe

• If you feel unwell

If you feel unwell and are suffering the after-effects of any fumes or smoke inhalation please call your doctor, accident and emergency department or NHS Choices 111. You can also access NHS 111 online here.

Things to Keep in Mind

• Personal Belongings

 We won’t repair, clean, or replace any personal belongings such as furniture, clothing, carpets, or appliances. We strongly encourage tenants to make sure they have appropriate contents insurance to help protect against such losses. If you don’t have insurance and are worried about the cost of cleaning, repairing or replacing your items, please reach out to our customer accounts team on 01225 366000 or email customeraccountshelp@curo-group.co.uk to discuss possible options, though assistance cannot be guaranteed.

• Pet accommodation

We will try to find pet-friendly accommodation if you have pets. However, if none are available, please arrange care for your pets with family, friends, or pet boarding services. If you have pet insurance, this may cover you for per boarding. If you need to be out of your home long-term, we may be able to cover the cost of this as per our Emergency Housing, Decant and Homeloss and Policy.

Important Considerations

• Fire Cause Assessment: If the cause of the fire was deemed accidental, or force majeure, all the above support applies. Please note that we are not responsible for water damage resulting from the fire brigade’s firefighting efforts.
• Negligence or Deliberate Fires: If the fire is determined to be due to negligence or deliberate actions, you will need to make your own accommodation arrangements.
• Service Failure by Curo: If the fire is attributed to a Curo service failure, we will follow the above procedures. We’ll also review damages to personal items for possible compensation if you do not have contents insurance, in line with our compensation policy.

How to Support the Recovery Process

To help us work as quickly and effectively as possible, please:

• Co-operate with our team in arranging access for emergency repairs and assessments.
• Follow the instructions from our team and the fire brigade regarding safety and property access.

If you don’t co-operate or give us access, we may have to adopt our controlled access policy for safety, including disconnecting electricity or gas if necessary. We also reserve the right to withdraw temporary accommodation.

We're here for you

Experiencing a fire can be overwhelming, but please know that Curo is here to support you. If you have any questions or need help, don’t hesitate to reach out to the colleague who has been assigned as your single point of contact. We’ll do everything we can to help you, including signposting you to other agencies who may be able support you, in particular local agencies which could help you get replacement furniture.

Other helpful resources

The Red Cross has a web page with useful information about what to do after a house fire, including information about replacing lost documents. They also have a list of useful support agencies.

The Red Cross support helpline (0808 196 3651) is available for emotional support, information and guidance (they do not offer financial support).

Our Customer Accounts Team may be able to assist if you are worried about money. call 01225 366000 or email customeraccountshelp@curo-group.co.uk.