ISO Fire Department Rating Explained: How PPC Scores Work and Why They Matter

The Insurance Services Office evaluates fire departments and assigns a Public Protection Classification score from 1 to 10. Class 1 is the best. Class 10 means there is no recognized fire protection.

This score directly affects property insurance premiums in your community. A better ISO rating means lower insurance costs for homeowners and businesses. In some areas, the difference between a Class 3 and a Class 7 can be thousands of dollars per year on a single commercial property.

How the PPC Score Is Calculated

ISO evaluates three main areas. Emergency Communications is worth up to 10 points, which is 10 percent. This covers your dispatch center, how calls are received and processed, dispatch equipment and staffing, and protocols.

The Fire Department category is worth up to 50 points, which is 50 percent. This is the big one. It evaluates engine companies, ladder companies, company personnel and staffing levels, training, and operational considerations like SOPs, incident management, and pre-incident planning.

Water Supply is worth up to 40 points, which is 40 percent. This evaluates hydrant spacing and distribution, water flow capacity, system reliability, and condition and maintenance.

There is also a Community Risk Reduction bonus worth up to 5.5 points that recognizes fire prevention code enforcement, public fire safety education, and fire investigation programs.

The Training Section

Training is worth up to 9 points, nearly 20 percent of the entire fire department score. It is where most departments lose points unnecessarily.

ISO evaluators look for a minimum of 16 hours per month of company-level training for both career and volunteer departments. Training must cover fireground operations, hazmat, EMS, driver/operator, and officer development. Multi-company drills at least quarterly. Night drills at least annually.

Documentation is where departments fail silently. You can run the best drills in the state, but if they are not documented, ISO gives you zero credit. You need to document date, time, duration, topic, NFPA reference, individual attendance, instructor name, and a description of what was trained.

How to Improve Your Rating

For quick wins in 0 to 6 months, fix your training records and make sure every drill is properly documented. Verify your training hours per member per month. Update pre-incident plans for every commercial occupancy. Make sure you have written SOPs for all major incident types.

For medium-term improvements over 6 to 18 months, get every firefighter to FF1 minimum, every officer to Fire Officer I, and every driver to Driver/Operator. Schedule quarterly multi-company drills. Run night drills. Work with your water department to flow-test hydrants annually.

For long-term improvements, invest in staffing, training facilities, and community risk reduction programs.

Need help hitting your training hours? First Due Co. provides 366 daily company drills, 23,000 plus quiz questions, and scenario-based training. Every activity is tracked with timestamps, topics, and completion records, ready for your ISO evaluation. Check it out at firstdueco.com.