Fire ISO Classification

What is ISO?

Insurance Services Office (ISO) is a leading advisory organization that serves the property and casualty insurance industry by providing statistical information on risk.

To help establish appropriate fire insurance premiums for residential and commercial properties, insurance companies need reliable, up-to-date information about a community’s fire-protection services.

ISO collects information on municipal fire-protection efforts in communities throughout the United States. In each of those communities, ISO analyzes the relevant data and then grades the community by using the Public Protection Classification scale, with ratings from 1 to 10. Class 1 generally represents superior property fire protection, and Class 10 indicates that the area’s fire-suppression program doesn’t meet ISO’s minimum criteria.

By classifying communities’ ability to suppress fires, ISO helps the communities evaluate their public fire-protection services. The program provides an objective, countrywide standard that helps fire departments in planning and budgeting for facilities, equipment, and training. And by securing lower fire insurance premiums for communities with better public protection, the PPC program provides incentives and rewards for communities that choose to improve their firefighting services.

ISO has extensive information on more than 47,000 fire-response jurisdictions.

How does my community’s ISO rating affect me?

A community’s investment in fire mitigation is a proven and reliable predictor of future fire losses. So, insurance companies use PPC information to help establish fair premiums for fire insurance — generally offering 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 link between effective public fire-mitigation capabilities and lower insured property loss is unquestioned. ISO’s PPC program is based on a partnership between insurers and local governments to help communities plan, budget and justify investments that improve municipal fire protection. Virtually all U.S. insurers of home and business property use ISO’s PPC program to assess property policies. That’s because statistical data on insurance losses demonstrates the relationship between better fire protection – as measured by the PPC program – and lower fire losses. ISO statistics show that, per $1,000 of insured property, communities with the worst PPC ratings have fire losses two or more times as high as communities with the best PPC rating.

The North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District has achieved a Public Protection Classification Score of 2 for properties located within a defined distance of a fire station, usually five road miles in most instances. For properties not located within a defined distance of a fire station, the score is a 10. To obtain the ISO score for your residence, please contact our Life Safety & Prevention Bureau at (239) 597-9227.