Foley Fire Department receives ISO rating

By Jessica Vaughn
Posted 10/2/18

FOLEY – The Foley Fire Department received the results of its ISO (Insurance Service Office) rating on Oct. 1, and Chief Joey Darby began dissecting the details immediately.

“The good news is …

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Foley Fire Department receives ISO rating

Posted

FOLEY – The Foley Fire Department received the results of its ISO (Insurance Service Office) rating on Oct. 1, and Chief Joey Darby began dissecting the details immediately.

“The good news is we held our class 3,” said Darby. “The better news is we were previously a class 3/8B, and under the new rating system we qualified as a class 3/3Y. That back part reflects the distance away from a fire hydrant, so that’s good news.”

The rating system affects how insurance companies classify rates, following a 10 – 1 scale, with 1 being the best rating possible. The 3Y represents the department’s ability to get water to a location where there’s not water. After an ISO survey, the data is sold to insurance companies that will determine how to handle rates based on the information. There are multiple factors that affect an ISO rating, from training, number of fire stations, and distance between fire hydrants.

“The improved rating recognizes our ability to provide good fire services beyond immediate water supplies, so I’m very proud of that fact,” Darby said. “We gained some points from our new fire station along with our personnel associated with that too.”

The biggest handicap affecting the scoring was the large area the department serves, but the score was made up in risk reduction points.

“This is our ability to get out and do fire prevention, be aggressive in the community, and our scoring on that added to our score big time and will help us moving forward,” Darby said.

Darby is looking into areas where he believes improvement is needed, and will be meeting with Riviera Utilities as well as the 911 system to implement these improvements. He also hopes to become part of a countywide tanker task force one day, an effort that’s been discussed over the past few years.

“To me this is invaluable that we be part of this task force that says if there’s a major fire, we can move water regardless of what the water system is like,” said Darby. “If we had a water system failure, a main breaks, we can rely on our neighbors and come together to move water collectively.”

To learn more about the Foley Fire Department, check out the city’s website at CityOfFoley.org.