The fire-protection services of the City of Spartanburg, as rated by an insurance industry advisory company, has improved to Class 1 from a Class 2. Only 204 of nearly 47,700 fire protection service agencies in the nation have earned the Class 1 rating.
The classification by Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), known as the Public Protection Classification (PPC) program, assesses the fire-protection efforts in a particular community.
ISO collects information on municipal fire-protection efforts in communities throughout the United States. In each of those communities, ISO analyzes the relevant data using its Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS). The company then assigns a Public Protection Classification from 1 to 10. Class 1 generally represents superior property fire protection, and Class 10 indicates that the area’s fire-suppression program doesn’t meet ISO’s minimum criteria.
The ISO 1 rating is validation of the superior services City residents receive. Only 204 of nearly 47,700 — 0.4 percent — fire protection service agencies in the nation have earned the ISO 1 rating.
“Our Fire Department has provided exceptional service for a long time, and I want to commend Fire Chief Marion Blackwell and his entire team. They have truly earned this designation,” Mayor Junie White said. “Our City Council and city management will continue to work with Chief Blackwell to ensure we are committing the resources needed to provide the very best fire protection to our city residents.”
“This achievement is a credit to our nearly 80 firefighters and staff — they are the ones who made it happen,” Chief Blackwell said. “They train diligently and work hard around the clock every day. Our City Council and professsional management staff supports our mission with state-of-the-art equipment and resources, and we are blessed to have a local emergency communications operation and water system that ensure our community has the highest level of service and protection. It is a team effort.”
The ISO derives ratings by considering the training, equipment, and response times of the fire department (50 percent of the score), the community’s emergency communications system (10 percent), and the community’s water supply (40 percent). The ISO 1 rating is a reflection not just of the City’s Fire Department, but also Spartanburg County 911 and Spartanburg Water System.
By classifying communities’ ability to suppress fires, ISO helps the communities evaluate their public fire-protection services. The program provides an objective, countrywide standard that helps fire departments in planning and budgeting for facilities, equipment, and training. And by securing lower fire insurance premiums for communities with better public protection, the PPC program provides incentives and rewards for communities that choose to improve their firefighting services.