Houston FD retains ISO Classification

The City of Houston Department of Public Safety received good news to start off the New Year as the city’s fire department has retained a Class 5/10 rating from the Insurance Service Office, Inc. (ISO).

This renewed rating takes effect beginning on April 1, 2025. There should be no effect on insurance premiums since there is no change.

Through the Public Protection Classification (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. Many insurance companies use PPC information to help establish fair premiums for Houston residents’ fire insurance. The ratings begin at a level 10 (indicative of no fire protection at all) and peak at one.

A consistent set of guidelines is used by ISO to evaluate a fire department, and their ratings are based on many factors. Almost every fire department undergoes ISO evaluation. Some factors that help to determine a rating level includes the number of personnel available to respond at any given time, the training level of personnel, the amount of water the fire department can get to a fire, the amount, type and quality of equipment used, and the documentation of pertinent records.

The purpose of ISO is to provide insurance companies with a uniform system on which to base risk. Insurance companies use knowledge of a local fire department’s capabilities to evaluate premium costs, especially in commercial settings.

In 2013, evaluators rated Houston as a lower Class 8b/10 department. Former Fire Chief Thomas M. Hood took on the task and spearheaded the Department’s efforts to improve the rating, and in 2018 Houston earned a 5/10 rating. During 2014 re-evaluation, the City of Houston received a score of 54.34 out of a maximum of 105.5. Only 27 fire departments in the State of Alaska scored higher, according to available data. In the Mat Su, only West Lakes, Central Mat-Su, and Palmer fire departments have higher ratings.

HFD earned a near-perfect score for Emergency Communications due in large part to the high quality services provided by Mat-Com dispatch. “We also received a large amount of “extra credit” for community risk-reduction programs, including the injury and fire prevention partnership with the fireworks vendors,” said Christian Hartley, Director of Public Safety for the City of Houston, in a press release. “We will focus on weakness found in this evaluation to improve ourselves and the services that we provide to our City, primarily in the deployment and personnel areas.”

ISO is a foremost source of information about property and casualty insurance risk. They provide statistical, actuarial, underwriting, and claims data for a wide range of commercial and personal insurance lines. They are an advisory organization, and insurers may use their information, modify it, or not use it, as needed.

ISO collects information useful in many aspects of insurance underwriting. That information includes evaluations of public fire protection, flood risk, and the adoption and enforcement of building codes in individual communities. Information on municipal services helps the communities with their efforts to manage and mitigate their risk. They provide these independent evaluations as a service to the insurance industry and do not charge a fee to the communities.

“The Houston Fire Department would also like to thank Mayor Carter Cole and the Houston City Council for their support of the fire department, the entire community of Houston, and ISO Senior PPC Field Representative Laurie Donis, in helping us to achieve this goal.”