The City of Castle Hills Fire Department was awarded an Insurance Services Office (ISO) Property Protection Classification (PPC) rating of Class 2. This places our department in the top 5% in the country, and 11% for the State of Texas.
What is an ISO Rating?
ISO fire ratings are scores given to individual cities that are based on how equipped the city’s fire department is when responding to fire emergencies. Three of the biggest factors the ISO takes into consideration are the reliability of the city’s fire department, the local water supply and communications system.
How are ISO Ratings Determined? Each city’s ISO fire rating is determined by looking at the four key components that play a role in the city’s ability to both prevent and respond to fire emergencies:
After evaluating these four categories, the ISO totals the points and assigns a classification score between 1 and 10 — with Class 1 being the best and Class 10 being the worst.
The City of Castle Hills previous score of 75.5, was done in 2015. As a result of the recent ratings review, the City of Castle Hills received a grade of 84.39. Over the last few years, the City of Castle Hills has taken the necessary steps to be able to move from a Class 3 to 2. These steps included enhancements and improvements to the City’s fire department (equipment, advanced training & fire prevention program), dispatch services (upgraded communication system), emergency management preparedness (generator for city hall & fire department, implementation of an emergency alert system) and updating the city’s building and fire codes.
How ISO fire ratings affect homeowner’s insurance rates?
ISO fire ratings can provide cities with invaluable feedback about their fire protection services. They also give cities incentives for having good fire departments —for instance, lower home insurance costs. The cost of coverage in a city with a good ISO fire rating is lower than in a city with a higher ISO fire rating.
