The chief of the Winkler Fire Department says a recent call confirms there is still a need for more awareness among renters about content insurance.

Richard Paetzold says the call was to a rental property where the building owner had insurance for the structure. He notes, however, the tenant did not have insurance to cover their belongings, which is a separate requirement that a lot of renters are not aware of.

Paetzold says content insurance is very important to not only cover the loss of your belongings, but it also covers some risk and liability insurance. He says the liability portion would protect you if the fire would start in your suite and then spread, damaging the contents of neighbouring apartments.

"Nowadays with insurance companies looking to recover costs, and that fire goes beyond your suite and affects your belongings, you could have an insurance company coming after you to cover the loss of their tenant's belongings."

When it comes to people not having content insurance, Paetzold says it's mostly due to a lack of awareness. "There's an assumption that if the building is insured, my stuff is also insured, but that's not the case when you're a renter."