ISO broke the District into three geographical protection areas. Those areas are the City of St. Peters, a portion of the City of O’Fallon and unincorporated St. Charles County. ISO upgraded the O’Fallon protection area to a Class 2. This is the first Class 2, rating to be issued in St Charles County and only the second Class 2 to be issued in the State of Missouri out of 1,749 rated communities. The St. Peters and unincorporated areas of the District received a Class 4, rating. Chief Russ Mason of Central County Fire & Rescue stated that he was “ecstatic about the news of the new rating classification.”

 

“The new lower Fire Protection Class Rating comes after years of planning, dedication and effort put into improving the District and its service to its Citizens. It is also a tribute to the commitment of the community as a whole in supporting the Fire District’s efforts to improve service.” Chief Mason sited the citizen’s support of a Bond Issue in 2001, which has allowed the district to make a number of key improvements in equipment. Specifically, the Bond Issue enabled the District to increase its commercial and residential fire fighting capability, increase its fire flow pumping capacity, add a second ladder truck and the addition of emergency generators at various stations as making a direct impact on the Fire Protection Rating Class.

 

Information on municipal services helps communities with their efforts to plan, manage and mitigate their risk. ISO performs the evaluations as a service to the insurance industry and do not charge a fee to the communities. The evaluation included a review of the District’s staffing, incident tracking, training program, inspection and pre-planning activities, inspection and testing procedures for equipment and apparatus, hydrant inspections and flow testing.

 

While the rating did not change in the St Peters and unincorporated areas the report did show a marked improvement in both of the scores for these areas. The unincorporated area only missed moving to a Class 3, by ¼ of a point and the St. Peters area missed a Class 3, by 2.29 points. Chief Mason stated that District Staff is preparing a plan to present to the Board of Directors that will lower the ratings in these areas to a Class 3. Achieving a Class 2 for these areas is out of reach for the District at this time as it would require a significant increase in staffing and possibly the addition of another fire station. However, Chief Mason sees both as objectives for the District’s long range plan.

 

Through the Public Protection Classification (PPCTM) program, ISO evaluates municipal fire-protection efforts in communities throughout the United States. A community's investment in fire mitigation is a proven and reliable predictor of future fire losses. So, insurance companies use PPC information to help establish fair premiums for fire insurance — generally offering lower premiums in communities with better protection. Many communities use the PPC as a benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of their fire-protection services. The PPC program is also a tool that helps communities plan for, budget, and justify improvements.

 

To help establish appropriate fire insurance premiums for residential and commercial properties, insurance companies need reliable, up-to-date information about a community's fire-protection services. ISO provides that information through the Public Protection Classification (PPCTM) program.