An ISO rating is a score between one and ten that indicates how well a fire department serves its local community. Determined by the Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics, the rating is based on a Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS).
The lower the score, the better the rating, with a score of one being the best possible rating.
Evaluation criteria
For communities, the ISO rating is a reference to an agency’s capabilities to extinguish a structure fire based on this national standard.
ISO evaluates three main factors: the department itself (50% of the total score), the available water supply (40% of the total), and the communications center (10% of the total).
detailed and lengthy process
However, there is much more that goes into a department's ability to protect a community
In terms of the ability to protect the community, ISO only looks at a few critical details thus only reflecting how well departments are doing in those three categories. However, there is much more that goes into a department's ability to protect a community.
Achieving an ISO score is a detailed and lengthy process that requires coordination among fire, water, and 911 center departments to work together to ensure the best possible result for the best resources available to a community.
Challenges to make fire, water, and 911 center work together
“It can be a challenge to coordinate so many moving parts, but each of the three must work together and make improvements for the overall score to improve,” says Robbi King, Solutions Engineer at Vector Solutions, a provider of compliance-based software solutions.
“With most departments being all-hazards departments, ensuring any budgeted dollars are maximized for the positive effect of the ISO ratings should remain top of mind. Matching those dollars to the rating is critical for the citizens of the community.”
training and workforce management
Fire departments are deeply familiar with the ISO rating process as they are all held to this standard
Vector Solutions is a pioneer in training and workforce management technology that enables Fire and Rescue Departments to meet their demanding training, compliance, and preparedness objectives including ISO.
Fire departments are deeply familiar with the ISO rating process as they are all held to this standard. When it comes to the general public, more education is needed.
ISO rating process
The average person often does not know that these ratings exist or how they affect the community, says King.
Additionally, ISO rating is only one facet of today's fire department. It requires a single person or group of people to gain the necessary knowledge and time to create changes and improvements to make a lasting impact on their community.
community evaluations
The evaluation is a large project that takes many staffing hours to prepare annually
The general public tends to have an oversimplified view of ISO ratings: A fire hydrant in the front yard equates to cheaper insurance.
However, the community evaluations actually look at many factors of the fire, water, and communications departments to set this rating from equipment and daily staffing levels to how long it takes for a 911 call to be answered. The evaluation is a large project that takes many staffing hours to prepare annually.
public safety suite of products
Through Vector Solutions’ public safety suite of products, including software for training management, policy distribution, personnel scheduling, critical incident, and exposure tracking, agencies are better prepared with documentation that authenticates details required under ISO ratings, says King.
With an online course library including more than 450 hours of fire department training with 250+ hours of CAPCE-approved EMS recertification courses, Vector Solutions prioritizes worker safety alongside robust documentation to achieve a positive score.
Vector Solutions’ Scheduling and Vector Check
Vector Check, a mobile equipment repair and maintenance app, ensures agencies have better documentation
Both Vector Solutions’ Scheduling work management software and Vector Check, a mobile equipment repair and maintenance app, ensure agencies have better documentation to support individual preparedness for success.
These tools can be used to report daily staffing levels and pull reports from all necessary tests completed on the department's equipment.
TargetSolutions
Additionally, tools like the TargetSolutions online training management system can aid in reporting required training hours upon completion.
These examples of preparedness documentation are essential for ISO ratings as they look to ensure individuals and agencies as a whole are up to date on training and other preparedness initiatives.
Improvement in hydrant flow
It can also note the best place to loop in another water main to improve the flow as well
But how can technology identify places for improvement of elements like hydrant water flow? Hydrants are placed within a subdivision before roads are even made. If the water flow at the hydrants in a subdivision is not enough, the agency can use technology to find the best place to improve the water system and increase the water flow available.
Technology can help by identifying the sizes of water mains to see if improving the volume or increasing the pressure would improve the flow in that area. It can also note the best place to loop in another water main to improve the flow as well.
an all-hazards agency
The “fire department” title is likely an outdated name for most agencies today, says King. Today, they are an all-hazards agency, and structural firefighting is only one facet of what makes the agency special. ISO only looks at this one facet.
Many agencies have a hard time achieving or maintaining a high ISO rating because structural firefighting isn’t the only work that they are required to do day in and day out.
Fire Suppression Rating Schedule
Then work to identify what would be needed to gain those additional points to improve the rating"
“Fire, water, and 911 center departments must coordinate to ensure the best possible ISO ratings,” says King.
“This begins with reviewing the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule as a group and discussing each area to see where the community stands. Then work to identify what would be needed to gain those additional points to improve the rating.”
AgencyConnect
Along with contacting and attending sessions with Verisk/ISO, gaining insight from a department’s individual questions and their training is essential to maximize a community’s effort.
Recently, Vector Solutions announced a new tool called AgencyConnect, a data-sharing solution connecting local departments' training management systems to those used by state-certifying authorities and training academies.
simplifying training reporting
Previously, training and certification records were distributed across agencies and academies, often locked away as a paper copy.
By simplifying training reporting and reducing time-intensive, manual processes, more time can be spent ensuring first responders have the proper training that is essential when it comes time for ISO ratings.