ISO RATING
You may be familiar with the term "ISO Rating", but what does that mean exactly? The Insurance Services Office (ISO) conducts surveys of communities and their ability to mitigate a structure fire. In order to receive a rating (on a scale of 1-10) the community must meet several minimum qualifications. These qualifications include having a fire department, be able to respond to a fire with sufficient personnel, conduct a minimum of two hours of training a month, proper notification of an alarm, apparatus that meets NFPA 1901 and housing for such apparatus. If a community does not meet these qualifications then their rating is a 10.
If the community meets the minimum qualifications then they are graded further on a Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) survey. There are three main categories on the FSRS: 10% is based on how well the fire department receives and dispatches fire alarms; 50% is based on the fire department itself (training, response, personnel, equipment maintenance, etc.); and 40% is based on the community's water supply (availability, percentage of the community served by hydrants, water pressure and flow, maintenance of pipes and hydrants, etc.). The FSRS survey provides a score from 0-100 which determines the ISO Rating.
Most insurance companies then uses the ISO rating, among other factors, to determine insurance rates for an area. For example: a home valued at $180,000 may have insurance premiums around $576 with an ISO Rating of 5. However, if the rating was to slip to an 8, the homeowner could see a premium around $795 or if the rating was a 10 the premium would be around $1,124. (Example source: CBS4, Denver)
Cimarron Hills Fire Department has an ISO Rating of 5.
For more information about ISO ratings, please visit www.iso.com.