According to DeKalb Fire Chief Donny Green, an increase in the counties Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating will mean lower insurance premiums for many residents.
The new rating went into effect on Sept. 1, and the county’s Property Protection Classification (PPC) rating increased to 6 for all homes or properties located within five miles of a fire station, even if the homes are not near a fire hydrant or alternative source of water. The new rating will not affect Smithville and Alexandria residents, who have their own city fire departments.
“We want all of our residents and property owners in the county to know they are now eligible for better insurance ratings on their property,” Green said. “If you have a current policy, it is your obligation to contact your insurance company and make sure they are aware of the new property protection classification and that it took effect Sept. 1. While not all insurance companies use the ISO tool, the majority do.”
Green said the rating exceeds that of surrounding counties.
“None of our surrounding counties have a county wide classification of 6 or better,” the chief shared. “We do have cities within our county (Smithville and Alexandria) and surrounding counties that have city fire departments with better ratings within those towns but as far as a county wide property protection classification, we’re the only one in this area or in any of our surrounding counties that has a county wide property protection classification of 6 or better.”
Green said that his department had to physically demonstrate that it could supply water to all areas of the county to get the rating improved.
“It’s a stringent testing procedure, and we had to prove that we can do this,” Green said. “Although we don’t have a lot of fire hydrants in the county, we do have some alternative water supply sources. We got those credited about five years ago. We had to go through a series of testing with those which included boat ramps where we can access the lake, creeks and ponds, and even swimming pools. We got those credited and that helped. Then we did a hauling water evaluation, where we haul the water to the scene using tankers along with portable drop tanks at the scene. We then shuttle the water from hydrants or alternative water supply sources so that we can provide a minimum of 250 gallons per minute for two consecutive hours. Once we demonstrated that we can do that in 85 percent of our coverage area, we were able to earn the county-wide property protection classification improvement to a Class 6. We did our evaluation in March, and got our new classification notice in June. The effective date was Sept. 1.”
Green noted that many volunteer firefighters worked hard to get the new classification, and that the support of County Mayor Tim Stribling, the county commission was invaluable in the quest for the upgraded rating.
“We worked on this fervently for over six months just getting the documentation and doing the testing,” said the chief. “I had a lot of men and women in our fire department that worked extremely hard to help us do this testing. I also credit the county commission and county mayor. A lot of the equipment additions, training, and improvements we’ve seen in the last several years is because the county commission has helped us. We’ve got a lot through grants, but the county commission and county mayor have been very supportive by approving the matching funds for the grants in helping us improve our equipment to get to this point.”
Stribling said that he appreciates all the work the fire department does.
“This is evidence of how hard our fire department has worked to improve the ISO rating for the citizens of our county to provide them a better service,” the county mayor said.
