RUSSELLVILLE, AR (October 2, 2017) - The Russellville Fire Department is proud to announce that the Insurance Service Office (ISO) has upgraded its protection rating to a Class 2, effective January 1, 2018. The improvement from a Class 3 to a Class 2 places Russellville Fire Department in the nation’s top 3.5% of Fire Departments in the United States. This is an exciting announcement and a huge day for the citizens of Russellville. The improved rating translates into commercial and residential insurance premium savings and serves to attract new development and businesses to our area.
Upon his promotion to Fire Chief, Kirk Slone and the executive leadership made improving the ISO rating, a priority for the Fire Department. He and the Russellville Fire Department would like to thank, first and foremost, Mayor Randy Horton and the Russellville City Council, for their support toward this endeavor. Without their vision and commitment to action, such as the recent purchase of Ladder 1, this classification improvement might not have occurred.
ISO, through its Public Protection Classification Program (PPC), issues ratings to fire departments throughout the country based on the effectiveness of their fire protections services. The ISO rating is a numerical grading system and is one of the primary elements used by the insurance industry to develop premium rates for residential and commercial businesses. It analyzes data using a Fire suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) and then assigns a Public Protection Classification from 1 (the best) to 10. The FSRS considers three main areas of the community’s fire suppression capabilities; the Fire Department, Emergency communications (911 call center), and water supply. The FSRS also includes in its assessment, a community risk reduction section. Involved in this assessment is the strength of the Fire Department in fire prevention, public fire safety education, and fire investigation. There are several key elements that are considered when evaluating a Fire Department. Among these are response capabilities, which includes adequate staffing of fire service personnel, fire station distribution (location and coverage), appropriate apparatus and equipment, training, water supplies, organizational structure, communications, building/fire prevention codes and the effectiveness of these codes.
The Class 2 rating also illustrates the excellent working relationship with local “partners”, these being the surrounding fire departments, City Corporation, and Pope County 911. The Russellville Fire Department would like to thank all of our automatic aid fire departments, mutual aid fire departments, water departments, and 911 for their dedication, service, and assistance. This achievement would not have been possible without the cooperation and professionalism of these agencies.