Location, Inc. Announces FIRE RISK™, the Biggest Breakthrough this Decade for Fire Related Insurance Loss Mitigation-Accurately Predicting the Likelihood a Location Will Experience Fire Loss

WORCESTER, Mass., Feb. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Location, Inc., a leading provider of location-based analytics, announced major enhancements to the FIRE RISK™ product. Now FIRE RISK predicts fire frequency, or the probability a location will have a fire-at the precision of a census block-answering the insurance industry's call for innovation in fire loss prediction.

"It's not just the people. It's not just the structure. It's not just the location. Rather, human behavior, property vulnerability, and environment and location, each with many moving parts, converge in unexpected ways to create or mitigate fire risk," said Dr. Andrew Schiller, CEO and Founder of Location, Inc. "We're at the forefront of this big data work, with fire frequency emerging as the leading predictor of insurance loss."

Until now, carriers have relied on products that attempt to estimate the level of damage that would occur once a fire starts, usually by understanding the distance to a fire station or hydrant and other response factors. However, according to a recent study by the Underwriters Laboratory, the proliferation of engineered lumber and petroleum-based furnishings, including furniture foams, carpets, and drapes, means today's houses are more flammable and burn more quickly.

As a result, fire department response time is less important in predicting the severity of loss than understanding which properties are likely to have a fire in the first place.

"Thirty years ago, you had about 17 minutes to escape a house fire. Today it's down to 3 or 4 minutes," said Dr. Schiller. "With the speed of fire engulfment so quick, predicting fire frequency is key to understanding risk. And since most structure fires are directly or indirectly caused by people – the things people do and don't do, the mistakes people make – modeling human behavior in the context of structure and location has proven valuable."

Quantifying the lift FIRE RISK provides when applied to a holdout data set of over $3 billion in premium, and then applying those findings to the $74 billion homeowners  insurance industry, reveals $19 billion in premium adjustments and $1.2 billion in claim reductions annually.

Examples of FIRE RISK's key indicators that would increase the probability of fire loss include:

• Leaving a hot, greasy frying pan unattended on a stove.
• Falling asleep with a lit cigarette.
• Letting electrical problems lapse.
• Carelessness with space heaters.

To learn more about FIRE RISK, contact Location, Inc.

FIRE RISK contains no red-lining, no data about race, ethnicity, ancestry, language, religion, any protected class, income, educational attainment, or occupations of any kind.

About Location, Inc.

Location, Inc. is a geographic research and data mining company born of university research and a leading provider of location-based data and tools used by corporations for risk analysis. Location, Inc. specializes in location analysis, quantifying and mapping of crime and security risks, structure fire risk, demographic and school data information products, and location-based decision-making tools for businesses and consumers. More than 65 million people and businesses have used Location, Inc.'s data and services since the Company's 2000 inception. For more information, visit www.LocationInc.com.

Media Contact:

Kate DeVagno
Marketing Department
Location, Inc.
Tel: (508) 753-8029
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Location, Inc.

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https://www.locationinc.com