A client’s property is located in a community that has an ISO public protection class rating of 3/9. What's the class for a property located 5.38 miles from a fire department?
A client’s property is located in a community that has an ISO public protection class (PPC) rating of 3/9. The agent believes this PPC rating means that a property located within five miles of a fire department and 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant should be labeled Class 3, and that one located more than five miles away from a fire department should be labeled Class 9.
Q: “The underwriter disagrees, arguing our insured’s property is Class 10 because it’s located 5.38 miles from the fire department—though inside the rated fire district. The local fire marshal agrees with me. Can you help?”
A: “You are correct about how the Class 3 rating works. However, the Class 9 rating applies to properties located within five miles of a fire department but also more than 1,000 feet from a fire hydrant. Any property located more than five miles away from a fire department is rated Class 10.
Fires grow geometrically. Every minute of time it takes for a pumper to respond, the fire can escalate dramatically—for proof, check out this NFPA video. That means in most cases, the faster the fire department can get there, the less significant the fire damage. Needless to say, ‘five miles’ won’t reflect extenuating factors like traffic, time of day, weather, road conditions and geography, but no measure will ever be able to accomplish that, and it’s impractical to apply a subjective PPC to every single structure.
It sounds like the city either needs to add or relocate a fire station and maybe talk to ISO about alternatives that will extend the protection class to every citizen and business. You can learn more about ISO’s PPC program, building construction classifications and other ISO rating issues by visiting the ISO website and clicking the ‘Webinars’ link under ‘Property/Casualty Insurance.’"
Bill Wilson is director of the Big “I” Virtual University.
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