WHITMIRE — Effective Feb. 1 the Whitmire Fire Department’s Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating will be reduced from a six to a four.
A large part of homeowner’s insurance is determined by an area’s ISO rating and a lower score could mean lower rates for those who reside within five miles of the fire station.
The rating is based strictly on a station’s ability to hit certain fire-suppression targets, and not on extrication or rescue success.
“You have to flow an X amount of water within so many minutes. Each building has a classification and needed gallons per minute,” said Whitmire Fire Chief Michael Thomas. “So they take (into account), what the building is made of, how old it is, what kind of roof does it have, and how many feet is it away from a hydrant.”
The second component is the effectiveness of a department’s communication. This involves the evaluation of dispatch systems such as how many 911 lines are available, number of dispatchers and type of system, said Thomas. Also taken into account are equipment, staff, training and community risk such as the proximity of Sumter National Forest.
The rating system is on a scale spanning one to 10, with one being the best possible score.
To put this accomplishment in perspective, of the over 45,000 communities to which ISO ratings are assigned, Whitmire belongs to a group of just over 10,000 which received a rating of four or better.
In the year 2000, under the leadership of Thomas’s father, the department received an initial rating of 6 and has since been implementing procedures and equipment in an effort to lower that score.
A major step toward that goal was the 2002 addition of a training facility. The three story building is constructed of shipping containers and is used to simulate fires using burn boxes to produces heat and smoke.
“Back in the old days we would always just burn old houses,” Thomas said. “With DHEC regulations and the EPA, they don’t allow us to do that anymore.”
He said the department has plans to one day expand the facility to accommodate a wider array of exercises. It also has previously hosted classes for Newberry, Union, and Laurens counties as the other closest training location is in Columbia.
Whitmire’s modestly sized department consists of 28 volunteers and Thomas reports an average response time of two to three minutes.
In an effort to broaden their coverage area and possibly lower their ISO rating further, the department is in the process of opening a substation funded under the county’s Capital Project Sales Tax.
“Probably by February they’re anticipating it should be up and running,” Thomas said.