Is Your Fire Department a “10″?

One factor which affects your home insurance rates is the quality of your local fire department.  The Insurance Services Office (ISO) assigns each fire district a Public Protection Classification rank on a scale of 1 to 10.  A Class 1 rank is the best there is, while a Class 10 means local protection doesn’t even meet minimum criteria.

This matters to you because it will directly determine the quote your home insurance company offers for coverage.  Insurance rates are all about risk, and having a great fire department means that if there’s an incident, the fire could be put out quickly, thus minimizing damage and consequently risk. 

There are three primary factors involved in rating each fire district.

• The local communication system – things like fire alarms, telephone systems, staffing and dispatching, basically how fast can the people who need to know find out about a fire.  This represents 10% of the total classification.
• Fire department resources, such as equipment, training, staffing, and the location of each company in relation to concentrations of population, homes and buildings to determine the potential quality of the initial response.  This factor, which accounts for 50% of the rating, looks at specific things like pumping capacity and the equipment on each fire vehicle within each engine company.
• The condition and maintenance of the water supply system.  Representing 40% of the analysis, this factor involves hydrant size, type, installation and condition.

Very few fire protection districts are awarded Class 1 distinction.  Most fall within Classes 4 to 8, with the majority at Class 6.  To see how the fire departments in your state have ranked, visit the ISO website and select your state.  I checked out Colorado, and found as a state we’re pretty average.

As a homeowner, if you live in an area with an average rating or less, make sure your homeowners insurance company knows that you are doing what you can to reduce the risk of a fire.  Install smoke detectors on every floor, keep a fire extinguisher in your home, and keep your property clean and well maintained.  These are some of the easiest ways to save money on home insurance.  If a vote comes up to increase taxes for the fire department, consider it carefully. Wouldn’t it be better to spend the money on local firefighters than on higher home insurance rates?