Hinsdale FD Maintains 'Impressive' ISO Rating

The following is a release from the Hinsdale Fire Department:

The Hinsdale Fire Department recently maintained their Public Protection Classification and received an impressive ISO Class 3 rating. This rating puts the Hinsdale Fire Department in the top 15 percent of fire departments in the state of Illinois that receive an ISO rating, and continues to support financial savings on insurance premiums to Hinsdale residents.

Chief Rick Ronovksy said, “I give credit to the firefighters for their increased workload and documenting all the things the survey requires. Furthering their professional education to meet higher standards could not have been accomplished without the hours of commitment provided by each member of the department.” 

Insurance Services Office (ISO) is an independent company that serves insurance companies, communities, fire departments, insurance regulators and others by providing information about risk. ISO’s Public Protection Classification Program (PPC) plays an important role in the underwriting process at insurance companies. In fact, most U.S. insurers, including the largest ones, use PPC information as part of their decision‐making when deciding what business to write, coverage’s to offer or prices to charge for personal or commercial property insurance.

ISO analyzes the relevant data and assigns a Public Protection Classification, a number from 1 to 10. Class 1 represents an exemplary fire suppression program and Class 10 indicates that the area’s fire suppression program does not meet ISO’s minimum criteria. 

A community’s PPC depends on:  

1. Needed fire flows which are representative building locations used to determine the theoretical amount of water necessary for fire suppression purposes.  
2. Water supply including condition and maintenance of hydrants, alternative water supply operations and a careful evaluation of the amount of available water compared with the amount needed to suppress fires up to 3,500 gpm. 
3. Receiving and handling fire alarms including telephone systems, telephone lines, staffing and dispatching systems. 
4. Fire department including equipment, staffing, training and geographic distribution of fire companies.

PPC provides fire departments with a valuable benchmark and is used by many departments as a valuable tool when planning, budgeting and justifying fire protection improvements. PPC is important to communities and fire departments because a community that improves their PPC may get lower insurance prices. 

The Hinsdale Fire Department has maintained an ISO rating of Class 3 since 1994. Faced with budget cuts, manpower reduction and the consolidation of dispatch services in 2008, the department was able to overcome and adapt to these organizational changes in order to avoid a downgrade in their classification.

If you have any questions or need further information, please feel free to contact the Hinsdale Fire Department at (630) 789-7060 or fire@villageofhinsdale.org.