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2017/06/06 - Walter's Blog: O'Fallon's Fire Rating Upgraded to Class 3

Democracy on the Front Lines
City Administrator’s Blog
Walter Denton

O’Fallon has a great Fire Department. In our latest Citizen Survey in 2016, 98% of respondents said the O’Fallon Fire Department is “Excellent” or “Good.” Now an objective observer agrees: the Insurance Services Office (ISO) recently upgraded O’Fallon’s fire rating from Class 4 to Class 3.

A Class 3 rating is a prestigious achievement. Only 3,409 communities nationwide have a Class 3 rating, compared to 6,915 communities with a Class 4 rating. Moreover, O’Fallon is only among around 150 Illinois communities with a Class 3 rating. The ISO study indicates the upgrade was due to the Fire Department’s improved scores in training and personnel.

So what does this mean? The ISO evaluates more than 46,000 communities in the United States on their fire suppression capabilities and rates them on a scale from 1 to 10 with a Class 1 being the best and Class 10 the worst. 50% of the rating comes from Fire Department capabilities, 40% comes from the water system’s ability to provide fire flow, and 10% comes from the Emergency Communications Center’s efficiency at dispatching first responders to a fire.

This is important because a community’s investment in fire mitigation is a proven and reliable predictor of future fire losses. The ISO study states that “Statistical data on insurance losses bears out the relationship between excellent fire protection and low fire losses.” As a result, insurance companies often use ISO ratings to help establish premiums for homeowners and commercial fire insurance. Communities with lower fire ratings tend to have lower homeowners insurance rates. Insurance companies have their own methods for calculating insurance rates, but O’Fallon homeowners may see a reduction in their premiums because of the upgrade.

Congratulations to the O’Fallon Fire Department, Public Works, and Telecommunications employees for achieving this significant upgrade and to the O’Fallon City Council for providing the vision and resources to make it possible.