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What is ISO Class
Three?
Class three refers to Insurance Service Organization (ISO) ratings. The
ratings are numerically categorized from one through ten. A rating of Class "1"
is the highest rating a fire department can receive. The following information
lists the requirements that have been met by the M.E.S., which has enabled them
to qualify for a class three rating.
Major Elements:
 |
A
review of the communications and dispatch facilities. |
|
A review of the water supply
and distribution system. |
|
A review of the fire
department. |
|
Awards a community wide grade
that is combined from the three above. |
Essential elements a fire
department must have to receive a Class "3" rating:
| Fire Department must have pumper capacity to
suppress a fire in any building in the community. |
| Fire Department must have a 24 hour central
dispatch for contacting all firefighters on duty via pagers. |
| Must have fully equipped reserve apparatus.
|
| Annual tests must be conducted on pumper
trucks, hoses, and hydrants. |
| A minimum number of firefighters must be
active in the department and respond to alarms. |
| Firefighter training must greatly exceed
minimum standards. |
| The fire department must be able to receive
assistance from neighboring departments. |
| The department and community must have a
definitive, reliable, and pressurized water supply. |
| Must perform annual fire code building inspections.
|
To receive an ISO rating the
following must apply:
| Must be an established and organized fire
department. |
| Legal responsibility for fire suppression in a
defined area within specific boundaries. |
| At least four firefighters must be present at
all scenes. |
| Two hours of training must be provided to
members bi-monthly. |
| Each firefighter must have a personal pager to
be made aware of fire calls. |
| Fire vehicles and equipment must meet standard
codes specified by the NFPA. |
| Equipment and vehicles must be centralized and
kept indoors. |
Comparison of
1986 and 2004 vs. maximum points possible.
- ISO ratings in Kansas
- 1,140 Communities
Mulvane is the first 8B in
Kansas
WHAT IS ISO AND HOW DOES
IT WORK?
The Insurance Services Office (ISO) is a for profit monopoly
that is authorized by 48 state legislatures to rate community fire defenses.
They sell the collected data to the insurance industry for the purposes of
establishing insurance rates. The ISO audit is a totally open book test. The
ISO rating sets commercial, contents, homeowner, crop and rental insurance
rates. The ISO rates communities every 15 years. The ISO rating is the reason
fire insurance rates are so high in some communities.
What factors are the PPC ratings based
on?
ISO’s PPC system has been in use since the early 1900’s, and has
been continuously modified and refined over that time. The Fire Suppression
Rating Schedule (FSRS) looks at a great deal of specific information about the
fire department, the water supply, and the types of property in the community,
and uses a fairly complex process to evaluate that information. In general
though, here are the factors the PPC system looks at.
| Water supply is the most
important single factor, and accounts for 40% of the total rating. The FSRS
compares the water supply available at representative areas of the community
with the amount needed to fight a fire in the types of buildings there are at
that location. In addition, there are some specific minimum requirements for
specific classes; to be Class 8 or higher, for example, the city must have the
water supply and equipment to deliver at least 250 gallons per minute for at
least two hours. |
| Fire equipment accounts for 26% of the rating. Again, there
are both some specific minimum equipment requirements, and additional
equipment standards based on the numbers and types of structures in the
community. Regular testing of the equipment is also a factor. (Incidentally,
the ISO rating system does not have a maximum age for fire trucks, but instead
focuses on the equipment’s capabilities. If the 1949 pumper is tested
regularly and meets performance requirements, it’s as good as a brand new
truck as far as ISO is concerned.) |
| Personnel accounts for 24% of the rating. 15% of that is
based on the numbers of firefighters available for the initial response and
how quickly the firefighters can respond. The other 9% reflects the initial
and ongoing training the firefighters receive. |
| The alarm and paging system accounts for the remaining 10%
of the rating. |
The grading audit simply
measures compliance to the national minimum standards in the respective areas.
Examples of questions asked are: Can a caller find the fire department phone
number in the phonebook? Does the water system match the needed fire flow
requirements of the buildings in the department? Are your ladders long enough
to reach the buildings you protect? Do you test your fire hydrants? Are your
fire stations properly located? Are there enough hydrants in the right areas?
Do you have the correct mix of fire apparatus?
How do ISO PPC ratings affect insurance
premiums?
|
Representative insurance premiums |
|
Fire
Class |
$150,000 residence |
$1,000,000
office building |
|
1 |
$670 |
$2,950 |
|
2 |
$670 |
$2,980 |
|
3 |
$670 |
$3,020 |
|
4 |
$670 |
$3,040 |
|
5 |
$670 |
$3,060 |
|
6 |
$670 |
$3,120 |
|
7 |
$670 |
$3,230 |
|
8 |
$777 |
$3,330 |
|
9 |
$972 |
$3,440 |
|
10 |
$1,072 |
$3,710 |
The table above shows how the premiums would vary for some
typical structures under a couple of insurance companies’ current rating
schedules. Keep in mind though that every insurance company sets its own rates.
While these figures are reasonably representative of how much difference the
fire rating can make in an insurance buyer’s premiums, the amounts and
percentages of the premium credits for the various fire classes will vary among
insurance companies.
Here are some points to note:
| In this schedule, no additional credit is given on
residential property for a fire class better than 7. The reason has largely to
do with the role that water supply plays in the ratings. Having a better water
supply helps in fighting fires in larger commercial structures, and therefore
is reflected in a better rating. But for most residential fires a lesser water
supply is actually needed, and having more than that available really doesn’t
help the fire department fight that particular residential fire any better.
There’s some variation among insurance companies (e.g., some might allow
additional credit for class 6, others might lump classes 7 and 8 together for
rating purposes, etc.) but this general pattern is fairly typical for
residential premium structures. |
| Not all insurance companies use the ISO PPC
classifications. This is especially true for residential coverage. Some
companies have their own rating systems based on their own historical loss
data for the area rather than on an evaluation of the fire protection in the
area. Other insurance companies use their own systems for rating the fire
protection for a particular property; a company might classify properties
based on the individual property’s distance from a fire station and water
supply, for example. |
- ISO rating in the United States
- 44,466 Communities
Link to
ISO web site.
|
2005