Fire insurance rates won’t increase in Bluefield due to positive ISO review

July 19--BLUEFIELD -- Local fire insurance rates won't be going up thanks to a positive review of local firefighting and emergency communications by the Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), Bluefield city officials said Monday.

The city of Bluefield has received notice from the Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) that the Public Protection Classification (PPC) grade, more commonly known as the ISO rating, for the community has remained constant after the recent review period, city officials said in press release.

The municipality was ranked again as a Class 4 with a classification of 04/4X and scoring a 69.40 out of a possible 105.50 credits. City officials describe receiving a steady rating as a success,city leaders said. Major factors that contributed to same classification were: the responding fire department for the city being a professional fire department, steady improvements made by to existing infrastructure, and the improvements made to communication lines.

"While we may not see any decreases in rates, we will not see increases," City Manager Dane Rideout said

Bluefield ranks as a Class 4. The city is just 0.6 points away from moving to a Class 3 with its score of 69.40. Once certain improvements are made, the move to a class 3 city will bring the possibility of lower rates for residents and commercial businesses. It is important to note that rates will vary from insurance company to insurance company, city officials said.

"This is a good news story for our city. As we make the improvements noted by the report, we will invite ISO back and anticipate move to Class 3," Rideout stated.

"The ISO is a cumulative score of training, reporting, equipment condition, the manner in which we respond to a fire, the number of individuals that respond, our water supply, and other items," Fire Chief Rick Cary said. "It is a good tool to gauge your community's reaction to fire safety. Inside our organization, it is a good report card for areas we perform well at and areas that we need to focus our attention on improving. We look forward to using this data in the days ahead."

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Emergency Communica-tions received high marks for the enhanced 911 system, E-911 or wireless system, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, and computer aided dispatch. Mercer County 911 maintains these systems which allow calls to be taken over multiple sources like cell phones, VoIP systems, and landlines. The only area to improve was the implementation of a Geographic Information System (GIS), according to the press release. Currently, the Mercer County Assessor's Office is working to map all parcels throughout the county. This will provide a base map for entities within the county and municipalities build necessary layers and expand mapping services.

The largest area of review for a community is within the local fire department, according to the press release. There are nine subcategories that the department is critiqued on ranging from training, equipment, and deployment analysis. Areas the Bluefield Fire Department performed well on include: equipment that meets the basic fire flow needs of the community at 3,500 gallons per minute, deployment analysis and understanding the area served by the department. Also noted was credit for engine companies with automatic aid agreements with surrounding volunteer fire departments, and a mutual aid agreement with Bluefield, Virginia Volunteer Fire Department. Praise was presented to the city's building and code enforcement department for the work they provide. This includes apartment inspections, building inspections during construction and rehabilitation, demolition work, and general code enforcement.

"Even though the population and tax base shrinks, there are structures left behind that still require fire protection if nothing to protect surrounding properties," Mayor Tom Cole said. "This is why the demolition program is so important to the overall health and well-being of the city. Our demolition program has a direct impact on our fire ratings by removing blight."

Areas of improvement for the fire department included the number of company personnel responding to calls and specific training.

The third category of review relates to the water supply system and infrastructure for fire suppression. West Virginia American Water partners with the Bluefield Fire Department to aggressively pursue flow testing and inspection twice each year, according to the press release. This testing occurs in the spring and fall and gave the city of Bluefield a perfect score in this subcategory. The city also received a perfect score for its 304 hydrants located within the city limits. Areas to improve within the supply system include areas within the irregular geographic shape and topography being outside of the recommended 1,000 foot distance of a hydrant. These areas are under review.

The final category to review includes the community risk reduction. The community receives credit on fire safety programs implemented in the schools, investigation into fires, and fire prevention code adoption and enforcement. Score was high in this area of focus, with easy improvements, such as additional fire prevention activities in the community. This is already being completed with the smoke detector drives, community programs, and introduction of the department's arson dog, Kendall, city officials said.

-- Contact Greg Jordan at [email protected]

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