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Fire department pursues better insurance rates
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - December 23, 2009)
Fire department pursues better insurance rates
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
The Chardon Fire Department is reviewing its operations in hopes of reducing insurance rates in its coverage area.
Chardon Fire Chief Larry Gaspar said last week his department would perform an evaluation of its equipment, staff training and response times to provide savings on insurance. "Our goal is to lower insurance for residents," he said.
Those evaluations, he said, will be submitted to the Insurance Services Office, an independent insurance rating organization. The organization ranks communities on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 representing the best fire protection available.
Mr. Gaspar informed Chardon Township Trustees last week of the department's plans.
The evaluations could affect those living in Chardon and Claridon townships and possibly those in the city of Chardon. Those communities all have contracts for fire and emergency services with the department.
Currently, he said, the two townships hold a ranking of 9.
Mr. Gaspar said insurance companies had been lax in holding to the rankings for communities until the beginning of this year. He said his home in Hambden Township received a ranking of 6.
But he said companies now take a stricter view of the rankings and have adjusted many to the higher ranking and rates. He said his home was elevated to a ranking of 9 after the first of the year. That raised his rates by a couple of hundred dollars a year, he said.
"Across the board, they cracked down and are going with the actual ratings," he said.
Mr. Gaspar said there was no need for the survey before because of the favorable ISO rankings provided in the past for the area. Now, he said, with residents having supported fire levies in all communities in the last election, the fire department hopes to provide residents with savings to offset the costs for the levies.
He said he hopes to lower the rankings for the two townships from 9 to 8, which will provide savings for residents on their insurance rates. He said he did not anticipate that the city will see a lower rate, despite the evaluation, because it already has a ranking of 6.
Mr. Gaspar said he hopes that documenting the staff training, the department's equipment and other factors will affect the rankings.
The department is required to show such criteria as they can provide 200 gallons of water per minute for 20 minutes. He said he is confident that goal can be met because the department brings two, 3,500-gallon tankers to fires and is supplemented by automatic mutual aid.
A recent change in the department also may help in the rankings, Mr. Gaspar said. The department recently added a fifth person to the night shift. That allows for the station to be manned by five firefighters around the clock, he said.
He said the department also may do a second survey this summer in hopes of reducing rates further.
But he said, to make a noticeable impact in residents' insurance costs, the ranking would have to drop to 6. He said, while the reduction in rates is most notable in lowering the ranking from a 9 to an 8, there is little difference in going from an 8 to a 7. He said the additional noticeable savings only would be realized by dropping from an 8 to a 6.
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