INSURANCE SERVICE OFFICE (ISO) RATING

**Insurance Companies: Please see the bottom of this page for information regarding our ISO and fire response protocols.

From the Chief: 

“I am so proud of the efforts that have been made over the last 11 years that led to this accomplishment. The newest rating places our city in the top 5% of over 46,000 communities nationwide and should lead to lower insurance rates for most of our citizens and industries. This is a wonderful accomplishment that directly reflects the strong work from the entire city staff and cooperation from previous and current city councils.”

 What exactly is ISO or an ISO rating?

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) conducts evaluations of a city’s fire protection capabilities to determine a classification known as a Fire Suppression Rating. This is commonly referred to as a city’s “ISO” or Protection Class. ISO works with the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office. 

The rating is based on a variety of factors ranging from firefighting apparatus, equipment, training of firefighters (at least 20 hours per month – per person), fire prevention, and community risk reduction efforts. It also evaluates the water supply infrastructure, such as the distance between fire hydrants, that supplies the department when fighting fires. These scores are used as reliable predictors of future fire loss based on a community’s investment in fire prevention and mitigation. In other words, these ratings calculate how well-equipped fire departments are to put out fires in that community.

What does ISO mean for me? 

Insurance companies use this information to establish premiums for a resident’s fire insurance policy. Typically, they offer better rates for those in communities with better ratings: 10 being the lowest and 1 being the highest. In 2021, Greenville Fire-Rescue went through the evaluation process and improved the score from a 3 to a 02/2X, as of December 2, 2021!  This means residents could see improvements in their insurance premiums. Keep in mind, that many outside factors play into that, as well. There are two parts within the classification: With a split class, all class-rated properties are located within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant or water supply suction point, and within 5 miles of a fire station will use Class 02. All class-rated properties located farther than 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant or water supply suction point, and within 5 miles of a fire station will use Class 2X.

I am an insurance agent needing the ISO for my client. 

The ISO rating applies to those within the city limits. Many people have a “Greenville” address but that doesn’t necessarily mean they live within the city limits. If the address is a County Road or CR type address, they are more than likely outside of the city limits and will have one of the area's volunteer departments as their “automatically” responding department. GFD does respond to fires in the county but only when requested by the responding department through the Mutual Aid agreement. 

**For insurance companies working on coverage policies, please read the following.

How to determine if a residence is under the City of Greenville ISO rating or the county rating:

Mailing addresses must include a city name regardless of whether the physical location is within a particular municipality. The US Postal Service sets its ZIP code boundaries based on what’s efficient for mail delivery, much the same way school district boundaries do not always align with city borders. To that end, there will be occasions where a house may be located in the county but have a “city” address.

Resident addresses may also fall just outside of the city limits or even closer to one of our fire stations than their responding volunteer fire department.

We respond to calls outside of the city limits on a mutual aid basis, (which is different from an automatic aid response). This means that we will respond when requested, typically from the volunteer fire department that is first on the scene of an incident.

The easiest way to determine if a residence is in the city limits of Greenville or not is if the address you are looking for is a “C.R.” address (county road). For example: XXXX CR 2245. This would be a county address. Another way to determine residence is to look at the address in question’s tax statement. If property taxes are paid to the city, then the residence is inside the city limits.

If you have a residence that is very close to the city limits and you’re not sure, feel free to call 903-457-2940 for clarification.