August 2, 2021
By News Director Jared Atha
It was announced recently by Elk City Fire Chief Kyle Chervenka that the Fire Department’s new Insurance Services Office rating has gone into affect.
According to Chief Chervenka, the City of Elk City has had their ISO rating improve from a 3 to a 2.
In a statement, Chervenka said these ratings calculate how well-equipped fire departments are to put out fires in that community. ISO provides this score, often called the “ISO fire score,” to homeowners insurance companies. Insurers then use it to help set homeowners insurance rates. The better equipped your fire department is to put out a fire, the less likely your house is to burn down. That makes your home less risky, and therefore less expensive, to insure.
Chervenka says the 1 through 10 rating system (1 being the best) is calculated according to ISO’s Fire Suppression Rating Schedule. 50% comes from the quality of the local fire department, including staffing levels, training, and proximity of the firehouse. 40% comes from availability of water supply, including the prevalence of fire hydrants and how much water is available to put out fires. 10% comes from the quality of the area’s emergency communications systems (911). An extra 5.5% comes from community outreach, including fire prevention and safety courses, and lastly, any area that is more than five driving miles from the nearest fire station is automatically rated a 10.
Chervanka noted that only 0.71% of all communities surveyed have an ISO 1 rating.
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