Improved Waco fire rating

Waco residents could see their homeowners insurance because of to an improved fire safety rating that reflects upgrades at the Waco Fire Department. The Insurance Services Organization raised Waco’s rating from a 4 to a 2, on a scale in which 1 is best and 10 is worst. The city has been working for the upgrade for more than a decade, trying to improve response times by building new fire stations in strategic areas. A 2007 bond election provided for two more fire stations.

“We’ve been working on it a number of years, and our firefighters have done an outstanding job supporting this,” Waco Fire Chief John Johnson said. “We couldn’t have done it without the support of citizens voting in the bond election, the city council supporting city management and city management supporting the fire department.”

Johnson said insurance premiums depend on many factors, but the ISO improvement could mean an insurance premium decrease of up to 11 percent for businesses and 12 percent for homeowners.

“In this economic downturn, it’s nice to know certain things are getting cheaper,” he said.

Several Waco insurance agencies contacted Thursday afternoon said they expected the ISO rating change would improve homeowners premiums but had no figures available.

Not everyone saves
Joe Cluley, Central Texas field executive for State Farm, said his firm doesn’t consider the fire ratings in its formulas.

“We don’t use ISO anymore,” he said. “My understanding is that it will have zero effect, although the long-term effect of having better service from the fire department will have the long-term effect of reducing losses, which leads to better prices.”

Before the 2007 bond election, officials with Insurors of Texas estimated that a change in ISO rating from a 4 to a 3 would lower premiums for the owner of a $100,000 brick home from $108 to $92 a year. Insurors of Texas officials could not be reached for an estimate Thursday.

In the short term, one area of town will lose out on the ISO benefit: Texas State Technical College and the surrounding student housing and industrial area. Because the city has no fire station in that area, it has been rated as a 10, which is the same as having no fire service at all. However, the city of Waco is preparing to use bond election money to build a fire station by next March, along with a new fire station on Elm Street. Johnson expects the TSTC area to be re-rated then as a 2, and he said he hopes insurance companies can work with property owners in that area in the meantime.

“Even though that area is a 10, some insurance companies may honor the rating that the rest of the city has,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the ISO insurance rating is based on a comprehensive evaluation of a community’s fire services, including alarms, training, staffing, hydrant maintenance and the distribution of fire stations.

To get a 2 rating, all areas within the city must be no more than five road miles from a fire station.

Forty percent of the rating is based on the city’s water supply and pressure. Johnson said the city’s water system is excellent and contributed to the rating improvement.
By J.B. Smith, The Wao Tribune-Herald