City of Gray Fire Department is proud to have achieved an ISO Rating of 3 for our community in 2025. 

**This only includes properties within the City limits of the City of Gray.**

Fire Chief: John K. EIsele

Your area's ISO fire score is a rating that determines how well your local fire department can protect your community and home. Insurance companies use the score to help set home insurance rates, as a home that is less likely to be severely damaged or destroyed by fire is cheaper to insure. However, the impact of your area's ISO score on your homeowner's insurance policy varies by insurer. 

What is an ISO rating, and why is it important?

A company called the Verisk ISO (Insurance Services Office) creates ratings for fire departments and their surrounding communities. The ratings calculate how well-equipped fire departments are to put out fires in that community. The ISO provides this score, often called the "ISO Rating," to homeowners insurance companies. The insurers then use it to help set homeowners insurance rates. The more well-equipped your fire department is to put out a fire, the less likely your house is to burn down. And that makes your home less risky, and therefore less expensive, to insure. 

An ISO fire insurance rating also referred to as a Fire Protection Rating (FPR) or Public Protection Classification (PPC), is a score from 1 to 10 that indicates how well-protected your community is by the fire department. In the ISO rating scale, a lower number is better: 1 is the best possible rating, while a 10 means the fire department did not meet the ISO's minimum requirements.

According to the ISO's Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS), there are four main criteria to a fire rating score:

• 50% comes from the quality of your local fire department including staffing levels, training, and proximity of the firehouse.

• 40% comes from the availability of water supply, including the prevalence of fire hydrants and how much water is available for putting out fires.

• 10% comes from the quality of the area's emergency communications systems (911).

• An extra 5.5% comes from community outreach, including fire prevention and safety courses.

• Any area that is more than 5 driving miles from the nearest fire station is automatically rated a 10.

In 2018, I was presented with the chance to serve as the Fire Chief for the City of Gray. This role was driven by my desire to make a meaningful difference in our community and to improve the safety of our residents through outstanding service. A primary goal of mine has been to lower our ISO rating to a class 3 while consistently enhancing our service delivery. Providing the best service to our community is my goal every day. 

In December of 2024 the City of Gray Fire Department was notified that the department successfully lowered (improved) the rating from an ISO class 4 to a Class 3 rating. This affects all residents within the City of Gray limits. This improvement could not have been accomplished without the fantastic men and women that we have on the team at the Gray Fire Department. This classification was effective March 1st of 2025.

The rating score for the Gray Fire Department improved from 62.94 (class 4) to a 72.91 (class 3). 

The score improved 9.97 points from October 2019 until October 2024.

Currently Gray Fire Department is only 7.09 points from an ISO rating of class 2.

ISO stands for Insurance Service Organization. This is a group of trained, professional evaluators that assess almost every fire department in the U.S. ISO uses a consistent set of guidelines to evaluate a fire department. ISO bases a fire department’s rating on many factors including the number of personnel on duty, training level of personnel (paid or volunteer), the amount of water the fire department can get to a fire, response times, and the amount and quality of equipment used (such as fire engines and hand tools). ISO analyzes the relevant data using the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS). The purpose of ISO is to give insurance companies a uniform system on which to base their insurance premiums.

Public Protection Classification points are: 

0.00 – 9.99 (class 10)  (X) WORST

10.00 – 19.99 (class 9) 

20.00 – 29.99 (class 8) 

30.00 – 39.99 (class 7) 

40.00 – 49.99 (class 6) 

50.00 – 59.99 (class 5) 

60.00 – 69.99 (class 4)

70.00 – 79.99 (class 3) - City of Gray

80.00 – 89.99 (class2) 

90.00 or more (class 1) BEST

By classifying communities' ability to suppress fires, ISO helps the communities evaluate their public fire-protection services. The program provides an objective, countrywide standard that helps fire departments in planning and budgeting for facilities, equipment, and training. And by securing lower fire insurance premiums for communities with better public protection, the PPC program provides incentives and rewards for communities that choose to improve their firefighting service. One reward is potential new business and industry being attracted to the area due to better ISO ratings and lower insurance premiums.

A community’s PPC (Public Protection Classification) program depends on:

• The fire department, including equipment, staffing, training, and geographic deployment of fire

companies (50% of the grade)

• The water supply system, including the inspection and flow testing of hydrants and a careful evaluation of the amount of available water compared with the amount needed to suppress fires (40% of the grade)

• Emergency communications systems, including facilities for the public to report fires, staffing, training, certification of tele-communicators, and facilities for dispatching fire departments (10% of the grade)

• Community efforts to reduce the risk of fire, including fire prevention codes and enforcement, public fire safety education, and fire investigation programs (bonus points) 

How Does My ISO Rating Impact Insurance Rates?

The formulas homeowners insurance companies use to determine their insurance rates are complex and constantly changing. But, all other things being equal, a lower FPR or PPC score for your area will translate to a lower homeowners insurance premium, as it means your home is at a lower risk for serious fire damage. Home insurance companies offer lower rates if you have a good ISO rating because a well-prepared fire department should be able to put out your home's fire more quickly.

However, how your rating impacts your homeowner's insurance premium varies by insurer, and it's often only one of many factors it considers with regards to fire safety. For example, some companies will ask about your home's proximity to a fire station or fire hydrant, as well as whether you have a fire alarm or sprinkler system. And some insurers, do not use the ISO's score to set homeowners' premiums at all. Instead, they use their own metrics based on factors like historical fire data.

With that in mind, if your homeowners insurance premiums have increased due to a negative ISO fire rating, or you're no longer able to get home insurance at all, you may be able to bring your costs back down by shopping around for the best homeowners insurance company for your needs.

If your area has a poor fire score, it's a good idea to take extra steps to fireproof your home, like installing a sprinkler system or smart smoke alarms. Many insurance companies provide discounts to homeowners who take extra steps toward fire prevention, which may help you offset increased insurance costs. What's more, it will simply keep your home safer from fire damage