Escambia County Fire Insurance Rating Improves, Will Likely Mean Savings For Property Owners

April 12, 2019

An improved rating for the Escambia Fire Rescue will likely translate into an insurance cost savings for many Escambia County Residents.

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating for Escambia County has improved from a 5/5x to 4/4X, putting Escambia County in the top 30% of fire departments nationwide. The rating is countywide, regardless if the property is urban or rural.

Structures that are within five miles of a fire station (full-time or volunteer) and within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant have now have an ISO 4 rating, while structures within five miles of a fire station but more than 1,000 feet from a fire hydrant are rated at 4X. Properties located more than five miles from a fire station are rated an ISO 10, which is a class assigned to distant properties anywhere in the country, not just in Escambia County.

The five-mile criteria can also apply to Escambia County residents located within five miles of an out of county fire station that would be dispatched to their property under a mutual aid agreement, such as residents in Escambia County, FL, that are within five miles of the nearest Atmore fire station.

ISO is an independent party that provides, among other things, risk assessment information to insurance companies. For fire protection, ISO assigns fire ratings to a community between 1 and 10; 10 being the worst rating and 1 being the best fire protection coverage.

The program rates different elements of local fire protection. These include water supply, communications/dispatch effectiveness, and the operations of the fire department. Home and business property insurance premiums are partially based on program ratings.

NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

2 Responses to “Escambia County Fire Insurance Rating Improves, Will Likely Mean Savings For Property Owners”

  1. K. Jones on April 13th, 2019 11:17 pm

    Jim, you sure can’t be that short sighted that you think this improvement to the insurance rating can be traced back to mr. Weaver. Based on what I’ve read, listened to, and saw during the commissioners meeting, this could not be farther from the truth. Sounds more like the Fire Chief they hired actually got to work, rolled his sleeves up, and made things happen. Apparently he did such a good job that mr. Weaver and ms. Lovoy felt threatened and decided to slow down his progress because it appears whatever resources he was asking for would make even more of an improvement. So what does the Escambia Good Ole boy club do? Send him packing while trying to cover up all the negative findings we were hearing about in the news. No, even my 5 year old grand daughter can figure this out over a glass of milk. Mr Weaver and Ms lovoy should be thankful for the qualified people that came in to fix their mess.

  2. jim on April 12th, 2019 6:02 pm

    This is great news and, as a homeowner in Escambia County., I want to congratulate the Public Safety Director and Leadership in the Fire and EMS Department for a job well done. It make one wonder if the recent allocations of the unions that caused Public Safety Director Weaver to resign has any merit. If ISO says this put Escambia County’s Fire and EMS in the top 30% of Departments in the United States it sounds like Director Weaver did a good job. Thank you Director Weaver for you service to our county