By Bill Robinson
Senior News Writer
RICHMOND —
The Insurance Services Office (ISO), which rates firefighting organizations, recently audited the Richmond Fire Department for the first time in 13 years and came close to moving the city’s Public Protection Classification from a 3 to a 2.
“We had been a low 3, and moved up to a high 3,” Fire Chief Gerald told the city commission last Tuesday. “We missed a 2 classification by only 2.2 points.
There are 10 Public Protection Classifications with 10 points each, making 100 a perfect score. Fire insurance costs for both homes and businesses are calculated in large part on the rating of the fire departments that serve them.
Previously, Richmond’s score was 71, but the city scored 77.8 on the recent audit, Tatum said.
The ISO has assured the city it will audit the fire department every five years in the future, but the chief said he plans to have the auditors back before then.
“We’re so close, I think we can achieve a 2 classification in 18 to 24 months,” Tatum said. “We can request a new audit in as soon as 12 months.”
An improved classification has been a goal of Tatum’s since he was named fire chief more than five years ago.
“I’m the kind of person who likes to always be progressing,” he said.
While internal issues such as training, documentation and pro-active fire prevention are big factors in classification, fire departments cannot improve classification on their own, the chief said.
Only half of a classification is based on a fire department’s internal structure. Water supply is 40 percent, with dispatching making up the other 10 percent.
The recent consolidation of the city’s emergency dispatch service with the county and Berea makes more lines and personnel available to take calls. Also, upgrades of Richmond Utilities’ capacity to draw and pump water from the Kentucky River in the past two years helped the city improve its public protection score, Tatum said.
Water storage capacity also is a factor.
Construction of a fire station in the industrial park off Duncannon Lane and a new fire station on the Robert R. Martin also were necessary to boost the score.
Those external improvements would not have been possible without action by both the city commission and the utilities board, Tatum said.
The ISO standards require a fire station within 2.5 miles of every home or business, with a minimum of three minutes between the time a call comes in and when properly equipped firefighters arrive on the scene.
The city commission’s support also is needed to purchase and maintain proper equipment, including two aerial firefighting trucks, including one tower truck and one ladder truck.
An adequate training center also figures into a classification, and Richmond firefighters constantly are training and reviewing plans, Tatum said. Firefighters also keep their certifications up to date.
The department’s fire marshals routinely visit businesses to survey buildings and upgrade firefighting plans, the chief said.
If RFD responds to a fire at business, department officers can be reviewing response plans on a fire truck’s computer as they travel to the scene, the chief said. Because they routinely review plans and make on-site visits, both officers and firefighters should already be familiar with the structure in question with the computer serving only as a last-minute refresher.
One area in which the fire department has retrogressed in recent months is staffing.
Although the city’s 76 certified firefighters are enough to maintain the current rating, the department has lost five firefighters through attrition since the city’s financial straits forced a staff reduction.
However, Tatum, who is both energetic and optimistic, said he has every confidence that within 24 months, Richmond will have a Public Protection Classification of 2. Then both businesses and homes will begin paying lower fire insurance premiums.
Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@
richmondregister.com
or at 624-6622.
