The Bay District Volunteer Fire Department is proud to announce that the Fire Department will receive the ISO (Insurance Services Office) Class 3 public protection classification, effective July 1, 2014.

ISO is a third party independent agency that evaluates the fire department, water department and communications systems. It rates the results on a national scale from one to ten (one being the best and highest). According to ISO, its Public Protection Classification Program (PPC) plays an important role in the underwriting process with insurance companies. Most U.S. insurers report that the PPC information is used in their decision-making process when deciding what business to cover, what coverage’s to offer or prices to charge for personal or commercial property insurance. With a communities Class 3 rating, many insurance providers give a discount on annual insurance premiums for residences and businesses.

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What does the Class 3 ISO rating mean?

According to the Insurance Service Office (IS0) Public Protection Class (PPC) survey Bay District VFD’s response area fire protection rating is now a Class 3 rating.

Bay District VFD Public Protection Class (PPC) survey improved from a Class 4 to a Class 3 effective July 1, 2014. The new classification places Bay District in the top 2% or one of only six communities in the State of Maryland with a Class 3 ISO rating. Maryland has only four other communities that have a Class 2 rating and Zero with a Class 1 rating.

The fire protection rating for Bay District was determined in a 2014 Insurance Service Office (ISO) – Public Protection Class (PPC) survey. The PPC classification system assigns a number grade from 1 – 10 to the 49,010 communities across the United States including 267 communities in Maryland. An ISO Class 1 represents an exemplary fire suppression program, and Class 10 indicates that the area’s fire suppression program does not meet the ISO’s minimum criteria.

This grading schedule plays an important role in the underwriting process at insurance companies. ISO documents state that most insurers – including the largest ones – use PPC information for underwriting and calculating premiums for residential, commercial and industrial properties.

The PPC program evaluates communities according to a uniform set of criteria. These criteria incorporate nationally recognized standards developed by the National Fire Protection Association and the American Water Works Association.

The following community features are evaluated:

•Emergency communications
A maximum of 10 points of a community’s overall score is based on how well the fire department receives and dispatches fire alarms. The field representatives evaluate:
◦the emergency reporting system
◦the communications center, including the number of telecommunicators
◦computer-aided dispatch (CAD) facilities
◦the dispatch circuits and how the center notifies firefighters about the location of the emergency

•Fire department
A maximum of 50 points of the overall score is based on the fire department. ISO reviews the distribution of fire companies throughout the area and checks that the fire department tests its pumps regularly and inventories each engine and ladder company’s equipment according to NFPA 1901. ISO also reviews the fire company records to determine factors such as:
◦type and extent of training provided to fire company personnel
◦number of people who participate in training
◦firefighter response to emergencies
◦maintenance and testing of the fire department’s equipment

•Water supply
A maximum of 40 points of the overall score is based on the community’s water supply. This part of the survey focuses on whether the community has sufficient water supply for fire suppression beyond daily maximum consumption. ISO surveys all components of the water supply system. We also review fire hydrant inspections and frequency of flow testing. Finally, we count the number of fire hydrants that are no more than 1,000 feet from the representative locations.

Bay District showed significant improvements in all three grading components since the last survey in 1996.