Fargo Fire Department Receives ISO Class 1 Designation

The City of Fargo received the results of the Insurance Services Office (ISO) Public Protection Classification (PPC™) evaluation. The report indicated the Fargo Fire Department would improve from an ISO Class 2 to an improved rating of ISO Class 1. With this new rating, the City of Fargo is in the top ½ percent of all communities nationwide for their fire suppression delivery system.

ISO is a leading source of information about property/casualty insurance risk and currently evaluates 48,855 public fire service providers nationwide. Through the PPC program, ISO evaluates municipal fire-protection efforts in communities throughout the United States. A community's investment in fire mitigation is a proven and reliable predictor of future fire losses. Insurance companies use PPC information to help establish fair premiums for fire insurance, which generally offers lower premiums in communities with better protection. Many communities use the PPC as a benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of their fire-protection services. The PPC program is also a tool that helps communities plan for, budget and make improvements.

The process is a comprehensive review of the fire department itself (50%), the water supply systems (40%), and the emergency communication systems (10%).  To put this into perspective - of the approximate 48,855 fire departments in the entire country, only 329 have achieved the elite Class 1 designation. The Fargo Fire Department is one of only 72 Fire Departments that have achieved an ISO Class 1 designation as well as being Internationally Accredited.

The classification revision follows a thorough evaluation of three broad areas: Emergency Communications, Water Supply and the Fire Department. ISO rates municipalities on a scale of one to ten. A rating of one indicates the highest level of fire protection, while a ten shows an undeniable need for improvement in all areas of public protection. These ratings are then used by insurance companies to establish fair premiums for commercial and residential insurance.