By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM—Pelham homeowners and business owners may see a decrease in insurance rates after the Insurance Services Office recently classified the Pelham Fire Department as a 2, reflecting the city’s local fire protection for property insurance rating purposes.

An ISO rating is from 10 to one, with one being the best, according to Fireserviceinfo.com. Just about every aspect of a city and a fire department is evaluated in determining the ISO rating.

The website states that departments are given points for everything from the training aids a fire department owns to the distance between fire hydrants.

Pelham Fire Chief Danny Ray said less than 5 percent of fire departments in the country have a Class 2 rating, which may result in reduced insurance rates for the city’s residents.

In 2010, Ray said the city was given a 3/9 split rating, where the first number is the class that applies to properties within five miles of the responding fire station and

1,000 feet of a fire hydrant, and the second number is the class that applies to properties within five miles of a fire station but are more than 1,000 feet of a hydrant.

“It was a lot of work, and a lot of it is knowing what we need equipment wise,” Ray said of the new classification. “The biggest impact we saw was in our training.”

The amount of training each of the firefighters receive affects the department’s ISO. Since 2010, Ray said they have worked hard to improve that rating.

Ray took over the department in 2009 and was given the 3/9 in 2010. Those numbers were converted to the new system, and Pelham was given a 2.

Parts of Pelham have also received a new rating of a 10w, which is a new water class. Ray said this refers to the areas of Pelham that are between five and seven miles from a fire station but are within 1,000 feet of a hydrant.

If a person is in an area of Pelham rated as a 10w, Ray said insurance companies can give them a reduction in rates because of the proximity to the fire hydrant.

There may be reductions in insurance rates to homeowners affected by the new water rating, but Ray said it is not as significant as the commercial and business locations.

“I have not found anything that shows that there will be a significant difference in homeowners insurance,” Ray said. “The most significant impact would be on our commercial and business community and they can see a significant decrease in their insurance premiums.”