FAYETTEVILLE -- Some rural firefighters in Northwest Arkansas dislike the rating system used to calculate homeowner insurance rates. Chiefs say the process for determining those rates is unfair because it uses the same metrics to rate rural, volunteer fire departments as it uses to rate larger, professional ones.
Rural fire chiefs want the state to take over for the private company that rates and classifies departments statewide and nationwide.
A legislative committee is reviewing the feasibility of taking over the rating system, which would make Arkansas one of about six states that grade their own fire departments, said Rep. Kim Hammer, R-Benton. Hammer is part of the committee.
"One of the intents of this is to give volunteer fire departments -- and that's the key, volunteer fire departments -- giving them their best opportunity to get them the best ISO rating they can get," Hammer said.
The rating comes from the Insurance Service Office, which analyzes public fire protection capabilities of departments throughout the U.S. through its Public Protection Classification Program. ISO developed the program, which lists criteria to assess fire departments' fire protection services, according to the company's website.
Volunteer fire departments
The Arkansas Fire Service is made of 1,003 fire departments. Of those, 28 departments are staffed by career, fully paid firefighters. The remaining 974 are either fully or partially staffed by volunteers.
Source: Arkansas Fire Services
ISO ratings
To come up with the ratings, ISO evaluates three areas:
• 50 percent of the score looks at your local fire department, including staffing, training, geographic distribution of firehouses and adequacy of the fire equipment.
• 40 percent of the score takes into account the community’s water supply, including the placement and condition of fire hydrants and the amount of water that’s available to put out fires.
• 10 percent of the score measures the efficiency of emergency communications, such as the 911 system and the number of emergency dispatchers.
Source: ISO Public Protection Classification summary report
The Arkansas Insurance Department licenses ISO to assess fire departments statewide. Insurance companies, which pay ISO for its data, use the standardized ratings to calculate homeowner insurance.
The move to a state-run system likely would mean more education for rural departments and better insurance costs for rural homeowners, proponents say.
Fire chiefs in bigger departments disagree, countering the rating system, commonly called "ISO ratings," creates a standard where everyone is treated equally. The company's system is fair and uses a list of standards, including access to water and area population, to assess departments, Rogers Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said.
ISO representatives already will answer questions about how to improve and will come back and redo the inspection, if rural firefighters only ask, said Jeffrey Jones, vice president of the Arkansas State Firefighters Association and the West Memphis Fire Department assistant fire chief.
Hammer said ISO officials may tell fire departments how to improve, but don't delve further into education. He said the education should be more in-depth to help departments improve.
The ISO service also is free, Jones said, but that could change if the state operates the rating system, he said. Any money the state spends on taking over the system should instead go to increase fire training opportunities and equipment for rural fire departments, he said.
"Money is a tight subject nowadays -- why waste it?" Jones asked.
Hammer said he plans to study ways that wouldn't cost the state, including possibly the money insurance companies currently pay ISO to fund a new bureau or agency.
A representative for the Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas referred questions about the proposal to the Insurance Service Office. Other insurance agents also said they couldn't comment.
An ISO spokesman did not return phone messages left Wednesday and Friday.
Local volunteer department chiefs said the Insurance Service Office uses unfair rules that rate them the same as large cities, including cities like New York.
It also is difficult to tell whether each department is being graded exactly the same because the grading system is proprietary, Hammer said.
"And that's part of the issue," he said. "We want openness. We want transparency."
On a scale of one to 10, one is the best ranking. The most common classification among all Arkansas fire departments is nine, according to the company's website.
Arkansas has about 1,000 fire departments, according to the Arkansas Fire Service. Of those, 28 departments are staffed by career, fully paid firefighters. The remaining 974 are either fully or partially staffed by volunteers.
All four of Northwest Arkansas's large cities are now ranked No. 1, the highest score on the ISO scale.
Hammer said he hopes to introduce legislation in January for the state to do the ratings internally. The idea has been around for years, fire chiefs said. Hammer said other states, including Mississippi, are rating their own departments.
Mississippi fire departments use a bureau funded by insurance companies, not the state, said John Pope, president of the Mississippi Firefighters Association and chief for the city of Collins. Collins has a population of roughly 3,000, he said.
The bureau partly uses ISO standards and has its own inspectors. The state rating system has worked well for Mississippi fire departments, Pope said.
Bureau officials also provide education, then return to inspect, Pope said. That has helped Pope's department to better its rating twice since 2006, he said. Other departments also received better ratings, he said.
That means homeowners and business owners are saving money, Pope said. At the same time, the system has not lowered quality of fire protection, he said.
"It works for us," Pope said. "They don't show anybody any favoritism."
Arkansas should look into emulating that system, Hammer said.
Hammer is running for Arkansas State Senate District 33, a seat left open by Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, who did not seek re-election. Hammer will face Melissa Fults, a Democrat, in the November general election.
Fults said she didn't see anything wrong with the company and system currently used to rate fire departments. She added the state hasn't been successful with taking over and improving programs in the past.
But, rural fire chiefs are ready for change, said Gary Hull, chief of Nob Hill Fire Department.
"ISO is for big cities," Hull said. "It's not fair to the rural areas the way ISO tests."
For example, departments in areas without frequent hydrants get reductions to their scores even when the departments have enough trucks to haul water, Hull said. Nob Hill, which has a class 5 rating, has 12 fire trucks and covers 87 square miles.
ISO rated the department two years ago, but didn't improve the rating, despite added equipment, Hull said.
Rural fire departments aren't the same as professional ones, said Dewey Drummond, chief of Boston Mountain Volunteer Fire Department. Large departments have paid crews with firefighters specialized in duties, but volunteer firefighters must learn all firefighting functions, he said.
The Boston Mountain department has a 5 rating. Like most of Arkansas' fire departments, Boston Mountain and Nob Hill are manned by volunteers.
Having the state run a rating system could "muddy the waters," Jenkins said. The proposal may create two separate rating systems and cause confusion among insurance companies trying to rate and compare fire departments for homeowner insurance, he said.
Consistency is key, Jenkins said.
"We have to be consistent with how we rate these things," Jenkins said about ISO. "The way I look at it today, I don't see anything broken with the current system. It is tough, but it's supposed to be tough."
NW News on 05/21/2018
