News Flash

PRESS RELEASE: PRESS RELEASE - GREENVILLE FIRE DEPT RECEIVES NEW CLASSIFICATION FROM INSURANCE SERVICES OFFICE (ISO)

Greenville: Fire Chief Jeremy Powell of the Greenville Fire Department (GFD) was recently notified by the State Fire Marshal’s Office that they had approved a recommendation from the Insurance Services Office (ISO) to award GFD with an improved Public Protection Classification (PPC) of 02/2X. Currently, GFD’s classification is 03. The better the ISO score the lower the homeowner insurance premiums.

ISO creates ratings for fire departments and their surrounding communities. These ratings calculate how well-equipped fire departments are to put out fires in that community. An ISO fire rating also referred to as a fire score or PPC, is a score from one to 10 that indicates how well-protected your community is by the fire department. ISO gives points for everything from the training aids a fire department owns, to the distance between fire hydrants. ISO wants fire departments to conduct 20 hours of training per person each month to maximize points for every training aid. A lower number is better in the ISO rating scale: one is the best possible rating, while a 10 means the fire department did not meet ISO's minimum requirements.

The ISO recommended that the PPC for GFD be changed to a split Class 02/2X, with an effective date of 12/2/2021. “The recommendation is based on a review of your community performed on April 5, 2021”, according to Joel Duke PPC Oversight Officer with the State Fire Marshall’s Office. With a split class, all class-rated properties 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.

Chief Powell states, “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.”

Great job!

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