Downgrading of county fire districts creates hardships for homeowners
A truck driver who hauls mail on contract for the
But now, suddenly, he fears he could lose his home because his property insurance premium nearly doubled, and his monthly mortgage increased by
"How are we going to pay it?" he asked. "I've been here all my life. If it keeps going up, I'm going to wind up without a house. The insurance is killing us."
Thousands of property owners throughout Doña Ana County face a similar prospect because six county fire districts have been given failing grades by an organization that evaluates fire departments, and insurance companies are raising their property insurance rates in response.
The downgrading of the fire districts in
If you live in one of the six areas, you may have an even greater concern: Whether you are adequately protected if your house catches fire or you need an ambulance. In the views of the ratings agency and insurance companies, you are not.
"You have these nice facilities and nice equipment, but you have a false sense of security," said
Unincorporated areas of the county, along with municipalities such as
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ISO ratings
Those fire districts, like fire departments all over
The county fire districts were evaluated most recently between 2015 and 2017. ISO representatives study a variety of factors that influence the quality of fire protection, including fire department staffing and equipment; data on responses to fires and other emergence calls; the water supply system; emergency communications; and fire prevention efforts.
ISO grades all fire protection areas on a scale of 1 to 10 -- 1 being the best. A grade of 10 indicates an agency "does not meet ISO's minimum criteria," according to the company's website. The county fire districts in
Nationally, fewer than 3 percent of fire protection areas got the lowest grade, but in Doña Ana County 37.5 percent did. In
Most county fire districts received grades of 5 to 7 in their most recent evaluations, which county Fire Chief
Many insurance companies, though not all, use ISO grades to determine premiums for home and business property insurance. Generally, insurance premiums will be lower for the same type of property in areas with higher ISO ratings.
Having so many fire districts in one county with failing ISO grades is "highly unusual," said State Fire Marshal
What is even more alarming is that county officials and the six fire districts that received failing grades were notified of those grades last year and were given one year to rectify the situations that led to those ratings before insurance companies were notified.
Neither the county nor the fire districts did anything to fix the problems. So, in March of this year the grades were "published," meaning that they became official and insurance companies began adjusting their rates accordingly.
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"As an organization, we failed," said
County officials point out that neither the current county manager,
Rawson said
Not enough volunteers
Fire officials say the six districts were given failing grades because they did not meet minimum ISO requirements on a single standard. That standard requires that at least four firefighters from the district, on average, respond to a structure fire. The actual way that number is calculated is complicated. Not every firefighter who responds counts the same.
"If we aren't showing that we're getting four members there to those calls from that district, that is an auto fail," Hempel said. "Everything else could be the same or even better than it was prior to that rating, but if we can't get those four, that's an automatic failure."
The Doña Ana County fire department has 252 volunteers. They are supplemented by 13 paid firefighters. But the number of volunteers varies significantly by district: From just eight in
Volunteerism is down in all aspects of life, across the country, but in no activity is the impact of that decline more critical than in firefighting. People are busier than ever. They often work in different communities than they live. Their kids participate in multiple activities. They're always on the go. They're rarely at home.
Who has time to volunteer?
"It's harder and harder to recruit consistently," Macias said. "The volunteers (who do sign up) are trained. They make a commitment. They're on the roster of each of these districts. They don't show up. They don't respond."
Nowhere is the problem greater than in
The state
The shortage of volunteers makes it harder for districts like
The fire chief in
Bencomo was chief in
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Bencomo shifted to the
On
He continues to actively recruit. He'll set up a table in front of the Family Dollar, the only store in town. He'll recruit at the community center when free food for low-income residents is distributed. But even though the
Only three of
"We need to do something to get more people," Bencomo said. "But exactly what the answer is, I don't know. It's a nationwide problem. We have a whole shift in how people see things and how people value things -- the sense of community. Communities forget that the fire department is the community. If the community isn't responding we don't have a fire department."
Shockwaves
Insurance companies adjust their premiums when a policy is renewed, typically once a year, so many property owners in the failing districts have not yet learned whether their premiums will increase.
Shockwaves are rippling through the county one policyholder at a time as they receive their new policies in the mail or are contacted by their agents.
Carlson insures about 4,000 homeowners throughout Doña Ana County. He said he has one client in Talavera whose annual premium skyrocketed from
"I couldn't believe this was happening," Carlson said. "I don't know why I can sleep at night. I care very much about my customers."
Rodriguez was notified in May by his mortgage company, Quicken Loans, that his insurance company,
He cancelled his policy with Farmers in July, only to discover shortly after
"I have to do something," he said.
What has happened to Rodriguez is happening to property owners all over the county. It's happening to a commercial landlord in
"It's a big expense," he said. "I don't like it."
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Virginia and
"There's other things I'd like to do with my money, like visit my grandchildren,"
A secondary impact of the rising insurance premiums is that many insurance companies won't write new policies in the failing districts. That makes it difficult for people who want to buy homes in those areas to get insurance, which has already caused real estate deals to fall through.
Carlson said he has a policy holder in
Soon after,
Nevarez, who represents
County strategies
The Doña Ana County fire department has stepped up efforts to attract volunteers since Hempel became chief. Flyers are being distributed in utility bills sent to county residents. Signs have been erected on the sides of fire trucks.
Those efforts are helping. Since
County officials are also considering other strategies to increase the number of firefighters and participation by volunteers. Macias is investigating the possibility of shifting vacant staff positions from other county departments to the fire department so more paid firefighters can be hired.
They are also considering providing financial incentives to firefighters that would pay them for each call to which they respond. They hope that would not only help recruit more volunteers but make them more likely to answer calls.
The county fire department has made other changes to improve response time to emergencies. Now the closest four districts are dispatched immediately to all structure fires. In the past, only the closest district was called initially. If it didn't respond, the second closed district was called. That system sometimes resulted in slow response times.
Doña Ana County is also considering making a fundamental change in the way the department is organized in response to the ISO scores. It is considering consolidating the county's 16 fire districts into a smaller number of larger units. The number of fire stations would remain the same.
More:
An earlier chief proposed consolidating the department into a single unit, eliminating the individual districts, but Macias rejected that strategy as unworkable. The county is too large for that, he says. Firefighters in
But consolidating the county's 16 fire districts into, say, three or four would mean each district would have a greater pool of volunteers to draw on. That would help assure that at least four firefighters respond to each structure fire but would also make the districts better equipped to respond to fires and other emergencies.
Macias and Hempel intend to present some sort of proposal to the
"The ISO representative indicated a willingness to come back earlier in order to do another assessment," Macias said. "We have been working on this issue consistently since it came to my attention. We're looking at coming forward with a combination of initiatives that we hope within a short period of time ... can turn around the results in these six districts."
That won't help homeowners like Rodriguez in the meantime.
"I sure am worried about it," he said.
Opinion: County's inaction of fire rankings will be costly to homeowners
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