Fire department preparing for audit that can affect home insurance rates

By Chris Fortune

St. Joseph Fire Department officials are pre-emptively preparing for an audit to ensure its systems are running smoothly and home insurance premiums aren’t negatively affected.

The fire department chief and assistant chief met with a field representative from the Insurance Services Office in October to gain an understanding of what they need to prepare for, and those preparations are underway.

“It’s a lot of paperwork, a lot of historical documentation that they want to see, that we’re taking all the steps to be as prepared as we can for our community,” Assistant Fire Chief Jamey McVicker said.

An ISO field representative will perform a five-year audit in March or April, and in the meantime, the fire department will have internal discussions about how they can accurately deploy resources ahead of the audit.

“We’re going to pull documentation such as all of our truck pump tests for the last five years, our ladder tests for the last five years, our deployment, our personnel, all of that historical data over the last five years,” McVicker said.

An ISO rating establishes how well-equipped a fire department is to put out a fire, and an insurance company uses that rating, which follows a 1 to 10 scale, to help determine home insurance rates.

A “1” is the best rating a fire department can receive, and the fire department in St. Joseph has maintained a “3” for several years.

“Our goal is to at least maintain a 3 and we’re going to do everything we possibly can to get to that 2,” McVicker said. “That would be quite an accomplishment if we were able to get to a 2, so I’m not going to put it outside the realm, but it would be a major feat.”

The ISO’s inspection will include various districts in the city to ensure water from over 40 hydrants is flowing at an adequate rate.

Missouri American Water underwent a water pipe replacement project this year that included enhancements to the Faraon and Randolph Water Boosters, which impact the water pressure and effectiveness of more than 3,500 fire hydrants across St. Joseph.

“They do a fantastic job of documentation and keeping us up to speed on the flows here in town,” McVicker said. “We have a good partnership with Missouri American Water, and they’ll be an instrumental part of this audit.”