Excerpts from the cityofevanston.org:
The Evanston Fire Department has achieved the highest possible rating for fire protection services from an insurance industry advisory company.
Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) awarded the department a Class 1 designation through its Public Protection Classification (PPC) program, which assesses communities’ fire protection efforts. The department’s new rating, which is an improvement from its previous Class 2 designation, will take effect on October 1, 2018.
ISO has evaluated the fire protection services of more than 46,000 fire departments across the nation. Only 305 nationwide, including 16 in Illinois, have achieved a Class 1 designation, placing the Evanston Fire Department in the top 1 percent of all fire departments in the country.
ISO’s Public Protection Classification review is conducted by expert ISO staff on a five-year cycle, and includes site visits, records examination and observation. Four major areas are evaluated: fire department operations, water supply, emergency communications and community risk reduction. Using its Fire Suppression Rating Schedule, ISO analyzes the data and then assigns a Public Protection Classification from 1 to 10. Class 1 generally represents superior property fire protection, and Class 10 indicates that the area’s fire-suppression program doesn’t meet ISO’s minimum criteria.
By classifying communities’ ability to suppress fires, ISO helps communities evaluate their public fire-protection services. The PPC program provides an objective, nationwide standard that helps fire departments in planning and budgeting for facilities, equipment and training. And by securing lower fire insurance premiums for communities with better public protection, the PPC program provides incentives and rewards for communities that choose to improve their firefighting services. In general, the price of insurance in a community with a good PPC is lower than in a community with a poor PPC, assuming all other factors are equal.
