Representatives of the Insurance Services Organization were in town the week of Jan. 25 to review the Falcon Fire Protection District’s ability to respond to fires and other emergencies.Falcon fire chief Trent Harwig said it’s been 11 years since the ISO last reviewed the fire department.Harwig said he didn’t expect the review to include a water hauling test since the ISO can use data from a test recently conducted in conjunction with Black Forest Fire and Rescue.”It’s mostly a paperwork thing done in the office, inspecting training and response time records. They’ll also check with all the water providers to make sure water is available,” he said.On Jan. 26, the ISO ran hydrant flow tests at seven of the water districts that supply the Falcon fire department.”So far, everything seems to be going good,” Harwig said.The ISO collects information on a community’s public fire protection process and analyzes the data so it can advise insurance companies about the risk of insuring property in a particular area. Fire departments are rated on a classification system of 1 to 10, with 1 representing superior fire protection, according to the ISO Web site.”As you go higher in the ISO classes, your homeowners insurance premiums go up,” said Christy Seeley, insurance agent for Pieper and Sons Insurance Agency in Calhan.Pieper and Sons represents 25 to 30 insurance carriers, and most of them use the ISO classes, Seeley said.”For instance, Calhan is a class 6 or 9, with 6 being in the city of Calhan and 9 being in the county,” she said. “The premium difference can be from $50 to several hundred dollars.”Kevin Koenke, an agent for State Farm in Falcon, said State Farm used ISO classifications in the past but several years ago began using a system based on ZIP codes.State Farm feels the ZIP code-based system yields a better evaluation of best price to risk, which benefits the customers, Koenke said.”Around here, so many people live out on the edges, and there are a lot of volunteer fire stations,” he said. “As long as you’re within 10 miles of a fire station, whether it has volunteer or paid staff, you get the same rate that somebody who lives right next to (a fire station) gets.”The State Farm system also uses subzones.”For Falcon, we are on the better end of our subzones because we have a fire station right in the middle of town,” Koenke said.Regardless of which system an insurance company uses, people who live far from a station or even near a station having a high ISO class, such as the Peyton Fire Protection District, are likely to be paying more for homeowners insurance.Relief could be on its way.Jack Rauer, Peyton’s fire chief, said the Peyton fire district board plans to submit all the information required to request an ISO review. He said they will submit the information in February, and the ISO test could happen as early as April or as late as August.”We’re planning on testing for ISO class 8b, but we’re preparing for a 7 or a 6,” Rauer said.”The Peyton Fire Protection District has never attempted to test better than the 9 it has now,” Rauer said.
