MFR ISO Rating Improves to Class 2

Fire Chief Doug Eggiman is very pleased to announce that Midway Fire Rescue’s ISO rating has dropped from a Class 4 to a Class 2 out of 10. This is exciting news to all personnel at Midway Fire Rescue. This was not an easy task as Midway Fire Rescue personnel worked hard to keep up standards and updated information on all areas of public safety and fire protection in the approximately 80 square miles that Midway Fire Rescue covers.

In the United States alone, there were 49,010 communities/departments surveyed in 2014. Class 1 was achieved by only 60 departments. Midway Fire Rescue joins only 749 other fire departments in the United States that achieved the ISO rating of a Class 2. This puts us in the top 1.6% of those 49,010 departments. We are very proud of the accomplishment and couldn't have done it without our dedicated personnel here at Midway Fire Rescue, and the support of County Administration, County Council, and the citizens.

The inspection surveyed all aspects of what Midway has done for the past three years. Countless hours of preparation went into the survey. As a part of the inspection, ISO also inspects the 911 system and the water system as it relates to hydrants and water available for firefighting. Midway appreciates their efforts with the survey. In keeping with the theme of ISO rating the communities ability to protect itself from fire, this rating reflects well on them too.

The new rating will take effect on April 1st, 2015. The department encourages everyone to make sure their insurance companies are aware of the change.

About ISO:

ISO is a leading source of information about risk. In the United States and around the world, ISO helps customers identify and mitigate risk. We provide comprehensive data, leading-edge analytics, and decision-support services to the federal government, municipal leaders, insurance industry regulators, and public- and private-sector customers.

With the cooperation and support of many federal, state, and local agencies, ISO delivers mission-critical information to help solve challenging infrastructure problems and aid in disaster readiness and threat assessment for communities.

ISO partners with municipal fire authorities, city managers, and other community officials to evaluate local fire-protection resources. With a staff of field representatives located strategically around the country, we have evaluated and continue to monitor more than 45,000 fire-protection areas in the United States. With the cooperation of local authorities, our representatives collect data on fire station locations, protection-area boundaries, emergency dispatch centers, fire department resources, and water-system capabilities. We currently have extensive information on more than 30,000 areas served by community water systems. ISO’s ongoing dialogue with community fire and water authorities keeps community-infrastructure information current.

Public Fire Protection

ISO provides reliable, up-to-date information about a community’s fire-protection services through the Public Protection Classification (PPC™) program. ISO’s PPC Service evaluates the capacity of the local fire department to respond to and fight structure fires. By evaluating a community’s ability to suppress fires, ISO provides crucial information for understanding risk associated with a specific property. Fire and water officials benefit because they gain a road map for improvements in fire service and water supply.

This map shows the PPC grades for communities in the 48 contiguous states. PPC grades run from Class 1 — which generally represents superior property fire protection — to Class 10 — which indicates that the area’s fire-suppression program does not meet ISO’s minimum criteria. A third of all fire districts are graded Class 9 — the lowest recognized protection — or Class 10. ISO statistics show that those communities have losses at least twice as high as their better-protected neighbors.