Fort Smith Fire Department earns top rating

FORT SMITH — The Fort Smith Fire Department has reached the highest rating given to fire departments, which Chief Phil Christensen said will translate to better service and lower insurance rates.

Christensen told Fort Smith city directors Tuesday night of the change in the Insurance Service Office rating from 2 to 1. The change will go into effect March 1.

According to FireServiceInfo.com, ISO is a for-profit organization that provides statistical information on risk. It evaluates cities and their fire departments on criteria such as the amount of firefighter training and distance between fire hydrants to arrive at a rating. The rating is based on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the best.

“We are excited about this new rating,” Christensen said Wednesday. “It’s the direct result from what citizens of Fort Smith said they wanted and voted on.”

Residents voted in 2012 to reallocate one-eighth of a 1 percent sales tax and use that revenue for firefighting improvements. For 2017, the 0.125 percent tax is expected to generate $2.3 million.

The department has used the tax money to purchase six new fire trucks in 2013, added more staff on aerial trucks to improve firefighter safety and the ability to perform rescues from structures, opened Station 11 in 2014 to improve coverage in southeast Fort Smith, opened a four-story fire training facility in 2015, and started a fire apparatus replacement fund.

Christensen wrote in a news release Wednesday that Fort Smith joined the 1 percent of fire departments in the country with an ISO 1 rating.

The Rogers and Little Rock fire departments were given ISO 1 ratings in January, according to their websites.

Christensen said in the news release that not only will fire protection improve in Fort Smith, but the new rating will help lower insurance rates for Fort Smith businesses and residents.

The improvement from the ISO 2 rating to an ISO 1 rating will not have a large effect on insurance rates, Arkansas Insurance Department spokesman Ryan James said Wednesday. He said the difference between an ISO 2 rating, which is very good, to an ISO 1 rating will probably will cause rates to decline by 1 or 2 percent.

Jumping from a moderately poor ISO 6 rating to an ISO 5 rating would be a more significant improvement and could result in a 10 percent rate decrease, James said.

Still, he said, an ISO 1 rating shows that the Fort Smith Fire Department is doing a good job.

Christensen said businesses and industries, rather than private citizens, will see the most change in insurance rates.

“This will also be attractive to industries considering Fort Smith as a location to build,” he said.