Improved ISO fire rating could mean savings

June 30--Garden City residents soon may enjoy lower homeowner's insurance premiums thanks to an improved fire protection rating recently achieved by the Garden City Fire Department, a rating enjoyed by only about 1,000 other fire departments in the nation.

Garden City Fire Department's Public Protection Classification (PPC) that sets the city's Insurance Services Office (ISO) fire protection score, a number used to determine local property insurance ratings reflecting a community's local fire protection, recently improved from a 3 to a 2.

The report rates community fire departments from Class 10 to Class 1, with Class 1 being the highest.

Garden City Fire Chief Allen Shelton presented the PPC report to Garden City Commissioners on June 21, explaining that GCFD's Class 2 rating was based on an evaluation of the fire department's ability to respond to calls inside the city limits or within five miles of one of the city's two fire stations, located at 302 N. Ninth St. and 1605 E. Mary St.

According to the report, a community's ISO rating is based on getting the adequate water flow and supply for fire suppression up to 3,500 gallons per minute; emergency communications; and the fire department's equipment, staff, training, operations and community risk reduction.

Shelton commended the city's emergency communications department, which made up 10 percent of the rating, and the city's water department, which made up 40 percent of the rating.

The fire department made up the remaining 50 percent of the rating, which should translate to insurance premium savings for area residents, but Shelton did not know exactly how much homeowners could save.

He said it is up to each individual insurance company to set premiums based on the Class 2 rating, and encouraged people to check with their insurance companies.

"We should really see some savings within the entire community," Shelton said.

Shelton said most large insurance companies have their own rating systems for setting premiums, but most smaller insurance companies use the ISO rating.

The ratings take effect Sept. 1, Shelton said, to allow time for insurance companies to receive the information and set rates accordingly.

City Commissioner Roy Cessna noted that the GCFD took a bit of a hit for having only one ladder truck and asked if the addition of a second ladder truck requested in the GCFD's proposed 2017 budget would help the rating. Shelton said it would because the station on Mary Street will receive the Central Fire Station's current ladder truck, meaning each station would have one.

"A ladder truck takes in a 2.5-mile response district, and when you put one in the north end of town and one in the central part of the city, and they overlap each other, we cover all the multi-story buildings in the community except for the dairy," Shelton said.

The Meadowlark Dairy Nutrition plant is being built south of the ethanol plant on U.S. Highway 83. Shelton said structures like that, as well as stores like Walmart, are rated for fire suppression based on different criteria.

"Insurance companies rate them totally separate because of the suppression systems they have within their own structures," Shelton said.

Shelton said having a high ISO rating is something all fire departments strive for, and he told commissioners that the GCFD is one of only 1,060 in the U.S. to achieve the Class 2 rating.

The number of fire departments in the state that received a Class 2 rating was not made available in the report, Shelton said.

Commissioner Melvin Dale and City Manager Matt Allen commended the fire department, water department and emergency communications for the achievement.

In a separate interview, Holcomb Fire Chief Bill Knight called GCFD's improved rating an outstanding accomplishment.

"There are only a handful of 1 ratings in the entire state of Kansas," Knight said, comparing a Class 2 rating to being the runner-up in a Miss America contest.

In January, the Holcomb Fire Department improved its rating from a Class 7 to a Class 4, which also saved homeowners money on their insurance premiums.

At that time, Knight said only three fire departments or districts in the state received a Class 1 rating and only 17 received a Class 2 rating.

He said attaining high ISO ratings involves the proper maintenance of equipment and a lot of paperwork and documentation.

"It takes a lot of work," Knight said.

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