During the summer of 2012, the City of Kalamazoo’s Public Safety Department and Department of Public Services-Water Division went through an extensive Insurance Services Office (ISO) review. ISO, a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics, collects and evaluates information from communities and reviews over 48,000 fire protection areas nationwide for property and casualty insurance risk and their overall structure fire suppression capabilities.
We are pleased to announce that our Public Protection Classification has improved from a Class 3 to a Class 2. The City of Kalamazoo is now one of only two fire departments in the State of Michigan who have this rating and less than 600 in the country. This rating is just another shining example of the quality employees working for our city and high level of services provided to our community.
This was the City of Kalamazoo’s first review since 1996.
ISO evaluates the Public Safety Departments ability to respond to and suppress fires. The Water Division is reviewed for the flow capacity of the water supply system and overall condition of the infrastructure for fire suppression purposes. Finally, the Public Safety Dispatch Center is reviewed for their ability to handle and dispatch fire alarms.
After assigning a rating, ISO provides this information to the insurance industry, which most use as a factor in calculating insurance premiums for residential, commercial and industrial properties.
