MADISON TOWNSHIP — Fire Chief Ken Justus reported that the Madison Township Fire Department has increased its Insurance Services Office (ISO) public protection classification for the first time in 20 years.
“We actually jumped two classes,” Justus said. “We went from a 57.6 score to a 73.74. According to the ISO rep, that doesn’t happen very often.
“We had a lot of improvements done at the county level and the dispatch center. The new tanker helped quite a bit. Adding Mansfield City Fire Department into our structured fire response gave us additional manpower.”
Justus said the ISO evaluations are taken into account for homeowner, commercial and industrial property insurance premiums as well as a number of other variables specific to the construction of the insured structures.
Some of the factors included in the PPC’s comprehensive evaluation are emergency communications, fire department apparatus and equipment, personnel and training, operation considerations, water supply, fire prevention and code enforcement, public fire safety education and fire investigation.
The PPC rating system is between classes 1 and 10, with class 1 being the highest rating. The Madison department earned a 3/3Y classification, making it the highes rated fire department in Richland County.
Of the 1,692 community evaluations in the State of Ohio, there are only 361 communities with an evaluation of Class 3 or greater. Of those, there are only 241 communities in the state with a Class 3 PPC score.
The Madison Township Fire Department’s former PPC rating was a 5/5Y for more than 20 years.
“The recent improvement in our score and rating has been because of the hard work performed by the firefighters and officers of the fire department,” Justus said.
“The split classification is because of the fact that only a portion of our community has recognized fire hydrants as part of a pressurized water delivery system.
“Those residents and businesses within 1000 feet of a recognized fire hydrant should receive some type of savings in their insurance premiums after Sept. 1 once this rating takes effect.”
The “Y” designation is a special classification for otherwise lower rated areas with no creditable water source (areas outside or greater than 1,000 feet of a recognized fire hydrant).
“This is a major accomplishment for the Madison Township Fire Department, and I am very proud of the firefighters and officers of the Madison Township Fire Department for their hard work,” Justus said.
“We will continue to constantly improve and provide the best possible service to our community.”
