Jan. 09--Washington Township's fire department has been awarded another distinction, and this one could save property owners some cash.
Insurance Services Offices, a private, New Jersey-based company that evaluates fire departments through its public protection classification system, this month bumped the township to the top rung of a 10-point scale.
The top ISO rating, along with accreditation by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International, is held by just three other departments in the state -- the cities of Stow and Toledo and Colerain Township near Cincinnati.
Nationwide, just 57 of more than 30,000 fire departments are both ISO-1 rated and accredited.
But equally important, the designations likely will cause insurance companies to take notice.
"I'd caution against immediately anticipating price reductions, because this is only one of dozens of variables that go into pricing a policy," said Michael Barry, spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, a New York City-based consumer education organization.
Even without lowered insurance costs, "making an investment in improving your firefighting facilities is itself a good thing," Barry said.
Mike Keenan, owner of Keenan Insurance in Dublin and a Dublin City Council member, is more certain of actual savings.
"Potentially, off the wall, it could (lower) rates by maybe 5 percent. And it may be a little higher than that on the commercial side," Keenan said. For the average $250,000 home, that could mean a $50-$60 annual savings.
Washington Township serves the entire city of Dublin and unincorporated portions of the township.
Washington Fire Chief Alec O'Connell said inclusion in the rating system costs nothing except manpower to compile and provide data to ISO. There are no dues, as with the accreditation, and the process takes less than six months.
"They look at all different levels of what we do and how we do it," O'Connell said. "Everybody is shooting for (ISO-1) because it's the best rating for the community."
Much of the analysis involves equipment and capacity to fight major fires, O'Connell said, including water flow, emergency dispatching, staffing and response times.
For affluent communities such as Dublin, with strong tax bases and newer facilities, the high rating is much easier to achieve, Keenan said. He cited the area's high water pressure, helped by a new water tower in the Muirfield Village area.
"I don't think there's anything more important than water pressure," Keenan said. "And it's a lot easier to govern when you have money."
Many rural or volunteer departments, or those with poor access to water, might not participate in the rating system, Keenan said. And those that do might rate at or near the bottom of the scale, forcing insurance carriers to downgrade them.
"A nine or 10, and they may not even write the coverage, or you may have very, very high rates," said Keenan.
The ratings, which are provided to insurers, are "sort of a snapshot of readiness, and tied into a region's financial ability," said Bill Houk, president of the Ohio Fire Chiefs Association.
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