There is no heart shattering experience like coming back to meet a burning house. Furniture, electronics, personal belongings and sometimes lifes are lost in this unfortunate event.
Its worthy to mention that electricity isn't the cause of all house fires but it is the cause of most fires that are sometimes ignorantly blamed on VPN [village people network]. These precautions can be taken to avoid such fires;
A} Always use original electric cables: many people including I the writer most times have failed in this aspect. To save money most times, we wrongly buy the cheaper and inferior wires for use in our houses. An electric cable is judged to be inferior based on the conductor material and nature of insulation. Copper is the best conductor and this can easily be tested with a magnet. If it is attracted to a magnet then it isn't copper because pure copper isn't magnetic. Some good cable products are : Cutix, cometstar etc. And these aren't the only good ones in the market. Materials other than copper tend to heat up excessively when current passes through it and this is a fire disaster waiting to happen.
B} Use the proper wire rating for the desired application: wires come in different ratings and sizes. Using a 1.5mm wire for a few low wattage light bulbs is acceptable but using the same cable for sockets is a no no. The greater the load, the bigger the size of wire to be used. This is the reason why most people experience their cheap extension socket wires burn out when boilers or refrigerators or pressing irons are connected to it.
C} Inexperienced technicians: These set of people are arsonists without knowing it. They use both inferior and wrong guage of cables for the wrong applications sometimes out of ignorance and most times to swindle the unsuspecting client. Cable joints must be avoided if avoidable and if not, it should be properly made and adequately insulated. Most electrical fires started from bad wire joints. The last and most important is
D}Use good circuit breakers: when I say circuit breakers, I don't mean those cheap ass, fake, good for nothing MCB`s you find inside those fake MEM distribution boards. I mean those circuit breakers you find inside the original ABB, Eaton boards etc. They are life savers. They are designed to trip off and protect the circuit from fault currents that might result from short circuits and also overloads or faulty appliances. Most Nigerians haven't realised the importance of installing original distribution boards in their houses. It is pricy but its a small price to pay compared to damages that can be incurred from a fire.
PLEASE everyone note that you need fire extinguishers in your houses too, not only in your cars. Stay safe.
Feel free to add yours.