In 2008, we were evaluated by Insurance Services Office (ISO for short) with a score of 4/9 in the city, and 5/9 outside of the city limits. This is an improvement over the previous score of 6/9. What does this mean? In short, it means lower insurance prices for those who live within the fire district of Priceville. You could save money when we get better ISO ratings.
We had an inspector come and inspect us over a few days. The evaulation is based upon a few things: the Fire Department, the hydrant and water supply system, and our 911 dispatchers. Factors include response time, equipment on our trucks, how much water we can get to a fire, our level of training, number of dispatchers used to cover our district, pre-planning of scenes, number of personnel responding, and so on. Anyway, after the inspection, the inspector returns to their office and determines a score.
The scores are ranked from 1 to 10, 1 being the highest rating and 10 being lowest rating (think of it like a pitcher's ERA in baseball or a driver's lap time in NASCAR- the lower, the better). The scores are reported in a fashion reflecting how far you live from a fire station and how far a hydrant is from your property being insured. If you live within the city of Priceville, are within 5 road miles of a fire station, and have a fire hydrant within 1000 feet of your house, the ISO rating is a 4. However, if you live in the city, are within 5 road miles of a fire station, but NOT within 1000 feet of a fire hydrant, the ISO rating is a 9. This is how you end up with a score of 4/9.
For this reason, communities need a lot of money poured into them. Cities will apply for grants to get improvements to their water supply and add new hydrants. 911 dispatchers will get outfitted with new radio equipment. Fire departments will ask for new equipment to stock their trucks. In our case, we are awaitng results from a grant to buy a new tanker truck to use in the areas without hydrants. You can also pay to have a hydrant installed. If you are near a water line greater than 6 inches in diameter, you can then pay Northeast Morgan County Water and Sewer to install one for you.
We had an inspector come and inspect us over a few days. The evaulation is based upon a few things: the Fire Department, the hydrant and water supply system, and our 911 dispatchers. Factors include response time, equipment on our trucks, how much water we can get to a fire, our level of training, number of dispatchers used to cover our district, pre-planning of scenes, number of personnel responding, and so on. Anyway, after the inspection, the inspector returns to their office and determines a score.
The scores are ranked from 1 to 10, 1 being the highest rating and 10 being lowest rating (think of it like a pitcher's ERA in baseball or a driver's lap time in NASCAR- the lower, the better). The scores are reported in a fashion reflecting how far you live from a fire station and how far a hydrant is from your property being insured. If you live within the city of Priceville, are within 5 road miles of a fire station, and have a fire hydrant within 1000 feet of your house, the ISO rating is a 4. However, if you live in the city, are within 5 road miles of a fire station, but NOT within 1000 feet of a fire hydrant, the ISO rating is a 9. This is how you end up with a score of 4/9.
For this reason, communities need a lot of money poured into them. Cities will apply for grants to get improvements to their water supply and add new hydrants. 911 dispatchers will get outfitted with new radio equipment. Fire departments will ask for new equipment to stock their trucks. In our case, we are awaitng results from a grant to buy a new tanker truck to use in the areas without hydrants. You can also pay to have a hydrant installed. If you are near a water line greater than 6 inches in diameter, you can then pay Northeast Morgan County Water and Sewer to install one for you.