National Fire Services Office

Congratulations to South Montgomery County FD on earning a Class 1 rating!

Services Offered
·    Pre-ISO audits
Offering guidance in issues of NFPA, AWWA, OSHA and ISO compliancy 
·    Standards of Cover
For those seeking accreditation
·    Burn Building Design
We can help design and construct a building at a cost within budget
·    50 Year Drought Study
We provide engineered drought studies to certify water sources
·    Water Delivery Strategies
We are experts in water shuttle and long hose lay 
·    911 Center Design
Designing communication centers that make sense
 
NFSO helps fire departments across America prepare for the ISO® audit and improve their PPC rating.
What is a PPC rating?
The way your fire department responds to life safety and property issues are evaluated by an organization called the Insurance Services Office (ISO) through an audit known as the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule. The rating earned on this audit is called the Public Protection Classification (PPC) and ranges from 1-10, 1 being best and 10 being worst. The insurance industry uses the PPC rating as an assessment of risk in order to determine property insurance premiums for residential as well as commercial property owners within a fire district. Simply put, a lower PPC rating leads to lower property insurance premiums.
How does the PPC program work?
Class 1-3 are commercial ratings. Because they typically have a considerable number of commercial structures cities should always strive for at least a class 3 PPC rating. Although a class 4 is the best PPC rating that a residential property can have, in most states a homeowner can obtain preferred premiums up to a class 6 rating. Class 7-9 are considered to be in the “high risk” category. Residents living in a PPC class 7-9 district typically pay about twice that of someone living in a class 4-6 district. Any property more than 5 road miles from a fire station is not within the protection of a fire district and is automatically deemed to be in a class 10. Many insurance providers will not write policies in a class 10 and the ones that do typically require even higher premiums than those in a class 9.
What is your community's PPC rating?
Your fire chief as well as your insurance agent will have this information.
Why the job is more than fighting fires
Obviously, how you respond to an incident is important, but how you respond to issues that impact what your community pays for property insurance is equally important. Statistically, less than 1% of a community will require fire protection service each year but nearly 87% of the property owners in the same community purchase property insurance. Approximately 93% of insurance companies use ISO and the PPC rating program to establish insurance premiums.
Contact Mike Yarbrough at 904-534-4882 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
You can also or @NFSO1