Fire department’s work evaluated for FCity’s ISO rating
Report expected in about a month
The Forrest City Fire Department underwent Insurance Services Office (ISO) evaluations on Wednesday to determine the city's ISO ratings.
FCFD Chief Shane Dallas explained the department is evaluated based on the standards of the National Fire Protection Association.
"The last inspection we had was in 2017, so six years ago now," said Dallas. "The insurance office inspector comes in and they evaluate the fire department to NFPA standards and their ISO guidelines to pretty much rank the quality of the department."
Dallas said the ISO inspector looks at a number of factors to determine the city's fire rating during the inspection.
"They look at everything from how many firefighters are on duty and how many firefighters we get to fires to equipment and apparatuses," said Dallas. "They look at our water supply as well, like our water pressure, how many hydrants we have to be able to extinguish fires in our community. They also look at our dispatch center to see when someone calls 911, how it is handled, how quickly it is processed and how quickly it gets to the fire department where we can get out to the calls."
According to Dallas, the inspector looks to see that the department is doing all of the things that a fire department is responsible for doing.
"They are very thorough and in depth with their survey, all the way down to them telling us certain equipment that has to be on the trucks,” Dallas continued. “They are coming in today to make sure we are doing inspections within the community, checking fire hydrants and that we are doing all of the things that a good, quality fire department is supposed to do."
Dallas said there are barriers that have been addressed in the last 10 years to help improve the ISO rating in Forrest City.
"Right now, we are ranked at a class three," said Dallas, "A class one is the best fire department ranking possible and a class 10 is no fire coverage at all. We are a class three, which is good. There are some barriers that we have addressed over the past 10 years or so that have helped us improve our rating, such as the addition of fire station two. That helped us better our rating and we are hoping to better it again."
According to Dallas, his professional goal as fire chief is to get Forrest City to a class two fire rating during his career.
"I feel like we are going to do better," said Dallas. "I don't know that we are going to get a two at this point. I think we still have some things like manpower and things like that to improve on before we can get to a class two, but we are going to continue to work towards all of the different things that we can to improve. My professional goal before the end of my career is to get Forrest City to a class two."
"I don't think this is the step, but I think one more in my career plan is that the next one, I think we can be at a two," continued Dallas. "Becoming a class two would further decrease fire insurance premiums for not only home owners, but also commercial businesses and industries that wants to come into Forrest City. They can look at what the insurance rating is going to be for their million dollar facility and see that the rates will be cheaper in Forrest City. That may be an economic tool we can use."
Dallas said the FCFD does not have the staffing to allow for firemen to not be on call, even when they are off work.
"Last time, we scored a 70.36, so anything above that will show a good day because that shows we are still improving within Forrest City and that is what we are hoping for," said Dallas. "West Memphis is rated at class one, Wynne is a class three, Jonesboro is a class one. All of the smaller departments are going to be rated less because they don't have the manpower that larger cities have. I
think we can get to a class two with some improvements, they just take time.
“The biggest thing we get hit on is getting firefighters to the scene,” said Dallas. “We have seven people on duty if everybody shows up on time. When our firemen are off work, they are still on call. In bigger departments like West Memphis and Jonesboro, when they are off work they are off work. We don't have the staffing to operate that way."
According to Dallas, the department is ready to see its new scores to determine where they need to focus improvement efforts.
"We have done some major improvements in communications," said Dallas. "I say we, but the county and city have joined together and made major improvements in dispatching so we are excited to see how we are scored there. I think we will see some dramatic improvement in our scores there. We have also done some other things that we believe will be positives. We are ready to see where we fell short so we can put that in our next five-year plan and begin working toward that."
Dallas said they are hoping for a good, positive day and that it normally takes at least a month to receive the results of the inspection.
"It all ties in to economic development, but the primary goal for us is community safety and taking care of our citizens, our visitors and things of that nature," said Dallas.