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Atlanta Fire Department ISO Rating Drops
ERIC STIRGUS; Staff
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta homeowners could pay as much 10 percent more for their insurance unless the city hires more firefighters and shows its training is up to snuff, Georgia Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner John Oxendine warned Monday.
Oxendine announced the preliminary findings of a report by the New Jersey-based Insurance Services Office that found Atlanta's public protection classification rating dropped from 2 to 4 on a scale of 10 with 1 being the best rating. Atlanta has nine months to make changes that will allow the city to keep its current rating or drop to a 3.
Many companies use the rating to help determine how much homeowners should pay for insurance. The ISO inspects everything from the number of firefighters a government has to the location of its fire hydrants.
Oxendine used the report to blast the city for several rounds of budget cuts last year that resulted in closing a fire station in the West End neighborhood and "brownouts," the practice of temporarily moving firefighters to other parts of Atlanta to handle calls for service.
"[The rating drop] can be stopped by the City Council by saying life safety is a priority," Oxendine, who is running for governor, told reporters.
City officials said they are confident they will maintain the current rating and noted the 4 rating would be higher than most places in Georgia and the same as Oxendine's home county of Gwinnett.
"While we are disappointed in the slight drop in rating, we are proud to be one of the highest ranked cities in Georgia," Fire Rescue Chief Kelvin Cochran said in a statement.
Oxendine said Atlanta maintaining its 2 rating will be a challenge.
"They are quite deficient," he said.
Oxendine asked for ISO's review in response to city budget cuts. The ISO has not reviewed Atlanta since 1974, the year Maynard Jackson took office as the city's mayor and Atlanta Braves slugger Hank Aaron broke pro baseball's home run record. The commissioner also asked for the ISO to conduct a review of DeKalb County, which hadn't been inspected since 1990.
Oxendine told reporters the preliminary report found Atlanta's engine companies should have at least two more firefighters. He also said the city couldn't produce all of its training records, which lowered its score.
David Colmans, who runs a group that provides information for most of Georgia's largest insurance companies, said the report shows Atlanta needs to improve some of its processes. Colmans, executive director of the Georgia Insurance Information Service, talked to three insurers Monday about what a 4 rating would mean for homeowners. One said the drop would result in a 5 percent homeowner rate increase. The second said there would be no difference. A third said the owner of a home worth $250,000 would pay an additional $85, a 6.6 percent increase.
Michael Wagoner, who has been interested in Atlanta's fire department operations after the city closed a fire station in his north Atlanta neighborhood in December, said he was disappointed by the findings, particularly as the council considers a property tax increase. City leaders are considering a tax hike to end employee furloughs on police officers and firefighters.
"It's going to cost everyone more money," said Wagoner, president of the Berkeley Park Neighborhood Association.
Copyright 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
June 2, 2009
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rescue601 on
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Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that once a department makes it to a Class 8 the difference all the way down to a class 1 is minimal for residential.
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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Not entirely correct. Going from an 8 to a 6 or 7 doesn't do a lot, but if a department goes from an 8 to a 4 for example, depending on the insurance company, could result in as much as a 20% reduction. Likewise going the other way, as in this case, works the same way.
It is interesting to note here in Texas, a majority of the insurance companies do not subscribe to ISO. When they call, they don't have a clue what our PPC rating is.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Another nice thing about Texas is the "Texas Addendum" to the ISO grading schedule. It adds points for things that really make a difference like sprinkler ordinances, fire prevention activities, a real inspection program, plans review, code enforcement, International Accreditation/master planning, and similar non-firefighting activities that reduce fire loss.
I'd love to see the Texas Addendum adopted nationwide. It would go a long way toward getting the grading schedule moved out of the 1950's.
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Look around the country. Atlanta, Columbia, New York, Philly, Baltimore...the number of cities closing companies, instituting brownouts, and reducing staffing is staggering. It doesn't have much to do with ISO - it has everything to do with the economy. If a city isn't bringing in enough revenue to pay for everything it wants to fund, then things are going to get cut.
With the restrictions on how a lot of capital funds must be spent, that puts a lot of pressure on recurrent operational costs, and that means salaries and benefits. With salaries and benefits running at 85% to 90% of costs for a lot of fire departments, it's just simple math to realize that if you can't pay for all of your firefighters with your revenue, then there will be some downsizing.
The ISO grading schedule doesn't really have a lot to do with overall community fire loss, either. It's based upon an antiquated system that hasn't changed appreciably in more than half a century. The ISO grading schedule isn't about protecting your community, either. They exist to protect the bottom line of companies that sell fire insurance. If you want to know how much ISO has to do with protecting life safety in your community, ask them how much credit you get for EMS units or a heavy rescue. The answer - you get zero credit for either. Joe and Sue homeowner and Bob's business Company get their increased premiums in order to increase the profit margin for their fire insurance company.
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