The results are in: the Insurance Services Organization reviewed the Falcon Fire Protection District in January, and completed their evaluation in August.Effective Sept. 1, the Falcon fire district has a new rating of 5 in areas with hydrants, said Trent Harwig, fire chief. The new, lower ISO rating should help homeowners get lower insurance premiums.Although lower ratings normally equate to district improvements, the new rating reflects a change in the way ISO rates fire districts.”The last time the ISO evaluated the Falcon fire district was in 1999,” Harwig said. “At that time, the district was rated a 6/10 with no hydrant requirements because of our demonstrated ability to deliver water at 250 gallons per minute for two hours without interruption.”The 6/10 split meant that any property within 5 road miles of a Falcon fire station was rated a 6 and all other property was rated a 10, he said.For the new rating, the ISO took into account the district’s automatic aid agreements with Black Forest Fire and Rescue and Cimarron Hills Fire Department, Harwig said. Thus, a property that’s within 1,000 feet of a hydrant and within 5 road miles of a Falcon, Cimarron Hills or Black Forest fire station has a new ISO rating of 5.A property that’s not within 1,000 feet of a hydrant but is within five road miles of a Falcon, Cimarron Hills or Black Forest fire station has a new ISO rating of 7. A property that’s more than 5 road miles from a fire station has a rating of 10.”Very few properties are rated 10 in the Falcon district,” Harwig said.An ISO rating of 5 is definitely a good thing, said Shawna Cauthen, an insurance agent for Pieper and Sons Insurance Agency in Calhan.”Just that one little change in number will help [lower] the price of homeowners’ insurance premiums,” Cauthen said.Some insurance companies won’t insure homes in areas with a rating of 9 or more.A rating of 7 means that a wider range of insurance carriers are available to homeowners in the parts of the district that don’t have hydrants than would otherwise be available, she said.”ISO evaluates all aspects of the fire [protection] delivery system – training, equipment, pump capacity, number of personnel, station distribution, water supply and dispatch,” Harwig said.The report also provides guidance on how the district can improve its rating in the future: build three to four new stations and staff them, he said.”The district will continue to hire firefighters and build stations strategically located to deliver the highest level of service with the least amount of response time as funds will allow,” Harwig said.”However, the grim economic outlook and its effect on property values will certainly be a challenge over the next several years.”
