Brentwood Fire and Rescue Improves Public Protection Rating

Brentwood Fire and Rescue

The Brentwood Fire and Rescue Department has achieved its highest rating for Public Protection by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) and its Public Protection Classification program. The ISO reviews fire departments throughout the country on various benchmarks and assigns a grade used by many property insurance companies to establish appropriate fire insurance premiums for residential and commercial properties. Class 1 generally represents superior property fire protection, and Class 10 indicates that the area’s fire suppression program does not meet ISO’s minimum criteria.

For more than 20 years the Brentwood Fire and Rescue Department has maintained a Class 4 ISO rating.  Earlier this week, Fire Chief Brian Goss announced receiving notice of a Class 2 rating.

“The results of this latest evaluation validates the efforts of our personnel, and staff throughout the city, to ensure that we’re maximizing the effectiveness of our operations, resources, and systems”, said Chief Goss.

Several city departments and its staff have all worked together diligently in recent years to achieve all potential ISO credits including the Fire and Rescue Department, Technology, Water, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Emergency Communications.

The Class 2 designation places Brentwood Fire and Rescue in the top 3% of fire departments across America, which is something all Brentwood City Commissioners are extremely proud of.  Commissioner Ken Travis said, “Our team set a goal, determined what needed to be done, and implemented an action plan.  This is simply great!” Commissioner Anne Dunn said, Often, we see these surveys which say Brentwood is in the top in this or that, but this is verifiable—the top 3%!”

City Manager Kirk Bednar called this a very pleasant surprise, “given that we have been trying over several evaluations to achieve a Class 3 rating. Moving to a Class 2 rating is something for all involved to be tremendously proud of achieving.  This is a true testament to Chief Goss’s commitment to strategic planning and staff development as well as the willingness of multiple departments to work together for a common goal.”

The new classification becomes effective in March 2018 and could mean significant property insurance reductions for residents and businesses.

How Scoring Works:

According to its website, the ISO reviews and establishes more than a hundred data points for use in the grading schedule. The points are compiled into 32 subcategories and four main sections: emergency communications, fire services, water systems, and community risk reduction.

According to the University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS), there are 875 ISO-classified communities in Tennessee. Of those, only 29 have achieved an ISO Class 1 or Class 2 rating. Of over 45,000 fire departments nationally, less than 3% are rated Class 2 or better.

To read more about the minimum criteria for Class 8 or better, log onto the ISO website.