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Some concerned about fire protection ratings
Published December 8, 2009
A proposed draft of a rating schedule used by insurance companies to price homeowner and commercial property insurance could affect Boaz if implemented.
The Insurance Services Office, or ISO, classifies more than 46,000 fire districts in the U.S., assigning a Public Protection Classification rating from 1 to 10. Class 1 generally represents exemplary fire protection, and Class 10 indicates the area’s fire-suppression program does not meet ISO’s minimum criteria.
Boaz is Class 5 and was last evaluated in 2003.
However, some residents fear if the proposed draft of the ISO Fire Suppression Rating Schedule is implemented, the city could drop to the bottom classification, possibly causing homeowner and commercial property insurance to skyrocket.
The chief concern involves the number of firefighters required to respond to structure fires.
“ISO currently requires a minimum four-firefighter response,” said Mike Waters, vice president of Risk Decision Services at ISO. “A proposed draft of the ISO FSRS is currently available on our Web site, ISOMitigation.com, and includes a ‘proposed’ requirement for a minimum six-firefighter response. This draft to the ISO FSRS has not been finalized.”
Boaz Fire and Rescue meets the four-firefighter response requirement but would have to hire additional personnel to meet a six-firefighter standard.
Boaz fire Chief Mike Sparks is worried about the proposal and said he thought Boaz could be one of the first districts affected by any new change to the schedule.
“I was at a chief’s conference and a guy spoke on behalf of ISO,” Sparks said. “ He said this is in the planning stages, but they wanted to try to get it to become effective sometime around March. It’s my understanding, if all this comes to fruition, that you have to be able to put six men on the fire scene at your initial time of call or your ISO rating would go to 10. Because I only have four, I would need two more per shift.
“I don’t know how close they are or if it will actually happen. From all indications, it’s going to happen.”
Even if the proposal is finalized and implemented next year, ISO still requires a comprehensive field survey to determine any changes in a community's PPC classification.
Boaz Mayor Tim Walker is aware of the proposal but said he spoke with an ISO official.
“I’ve had people saying this was absolutely going to happen this spring, and we’re going to a 9 if we’re don’t hire six firefighters,” Walker said. “The ISO guy I spoke to said that’s not true. He said the rating encompasses a whole lot of things besides manpower.”
Walker indicated hiring six additional firefighters would be costly — and unnecessary. The mayor said he thinks the fire department adequately covers the city now.
“I think we’ve got an unbelievably good fire department that does a great job, and I feel very secure where I live,” he said.
ISO rating explained
ISO is an independent organization serving insurance companies, fire departments, insurance regulators and others by providing information about risk.
Insurance companies use ISO's Public Protection Classification in marketing, underwriting, and pricing homeowner and commercial property insurance.
Waters explained the ISO’s Public Protection Classification.
“Using the ISO Fire Suppression Rating Schedule, ISO's Public Protection Classification program helps insurance companies measure and evaluate the major elements of a community's fire suppression system,” he said. “The PPC program is based on an evaluation of a municipality's fire department (50 percent), fire alarm (10 percent) and water supplies (40 percent). ISO analyzes this information and assigns an advisory number from 1 to 10.
“ISO requests updated information from communities at least every 24 months through the ISO Community Outreach Program. In areas of the country experiencing high growth rates, this request is made at least once a year. Through this program, communities provide updated information concerning their fire department, fire alarm, water supplies, including updated hydrant locations, fire stations and fire response boundaries.
“ISO utilizes this information to update the community's records and to evaluate the need for a comprehensive on-site field survey. A comprehensive field survey is required to determine any changes in a community's PPC classification. A survey can also be requested by an insurer or by a community when substantial changes have occurred since the last visit.”
ISO believes classifying communities’ abilities to suppress fires helps communities to evaluate their public fire-protection services. The PPC program provides an objective, countrywide standard that helps fire departments in planning and budgeting for facilities, equipment and training, according to ISO.
By securing lower fire insurance premiums for communities with better public protection, the PPC program provides incentives and rewards for communities that choose to improve their firefighting services.
List of acronyms
• ISO: Insurance Services Office
• PPC: Public Protection Classification
• FSRS: Fire Suppression Rating Schedule
For information on the proposed draft of the ISO FSRS, visit ISOmitigation.com on the Web.
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