Insurance Service Office (ISO) Rating

ISO's Public Protection Classification Program

The City of Beaufort Fire Department maintains an Insurance Service Office (ISO) rating of 1, which places it in the top 1% of the 43,000 fire departments graded by ISO.

What is ISO?

To help establish appropriate fire insurance premiums for residential and commercial properties, insurance companies need reliable, up-to-date information about a municipality's fire protection services. ISO provides that information through its Public Protection Classification (PPCTM) program.

ISO collects information on a community's public fire protection and analyzes the data using its Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS). It then assigns a Public Protection Classification from 1 to 10. Class 1 represents the best public protection, and Class 10 indicates less than the minimum recognized protection.

Why the rating matters

By classifying a community's ability to suppress fires, ISO helps the communities evaluate their public fire protection services. The program provides an objective, countrywide standard that helps fire departments in planning and budgeting for facilities, equipment, and training.

And by securing lower fire insurance premiums for communities with better public protection, the PPC program provides incentives and rewards for communities that choose to improve their firefighting services.

ISO has extensive information on more than 43,000 fire-response jurisdictions.