New ISO rating could mean big savings for Houston residents

Here are some things the acronym ISO can stand for, according to the top hits on that search term in Google:

• Innovated Styling Options (for hair).

• An image that is an archive file of an optical disc (that’s above our head, too).

• The International Organization for Standardization (although International Standardization Organization work just as well and fit the acronym better).

But that’s not the ISO we’re using this space to talk about. When we use the acronym, we’re talking about the Insurance Services Organization. This nationwide group provides the yardstick against which fire departments working to improve service measure their efforts.

It was a big deal with Central Mat-Su Fire Department earned its rating of 4 (the lower the rating, the better). It was similarly big news when the West Lakes Fire Department earned its 5.

Now in that club of high-quality Valley fire departments we add the Houston Fire Department ,which recently saw its rating improve from 8b — pretty typical for a rural department — to 5.

Fire Chief Tom Hood, in a press release announcing the change, said making such a marked improvement took eight years of work. Achieving anything that takes such determination and dedication is a feat to be commended. That the culmination of those efforts has resulted in a change that could potentially halve insurance rates for Houston homeowners — or make eligible homes that were previously denied coverage — makes it that much more commendable.

What’s next for the Houston Fire Department?

If the difference between a 5 and a 4 rating is indicative of the difference between the Houston Fire Department and Central Mat-Su, it’s going to be a long time before Houston’s develops into the kind of department that can rate a 4.

But we don’t think that’s any reason not to try. The way cities grow, by the time Houston achieves that rating it may have developed a Wasilla-sized community that requires such from its fire service.

Mayor Virgie Thompson said she intends in this legislative session to ask the state for money to build a new fire station in the city and buy a ladder truck to house there.

Whether the Legislature can find the $3.2 million to fulfill that request is another story, but no one can say the city hasn’t proven it can put that kind of equipment to good use.

So, to our friends in the Houston Fire Department, we say take a bow. You deserve it.