FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FIRE DEPARTMENT RATING UPGRADED BY INSURANCE SERVICE OFFICE

Class ratings used by insurance companies to establish fire insurance premiums

The Newport News Fire Department has received a Public Protection Classification (PPC) Class 2 rating from the Insurance Service Office.

The Newport News Fire Department has received a Public Protection Classification (PPC) Class 2 rating from the Insurance Service Office. The previous PPC rating, awarded ten years ago, was a Class 3.  The PPC rating is utilized by the insurance industry to help establish fire insurance premiums for the community.   Fire Departments are classified on a scale of one to ten with ten being the lowest level of service.  There are only 57 Class 1 fire departments in the United States and, at present, there are none in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The Newport News Fire Department moved from a Class 3 to a Class 2 fire department, which puts the City in a select group of just six other Virginia municipalities that have achieved this level of service excellence out of over 740 fire departments in the Commonwealth. The six other jurisdictions to obtain this coveted Class 2 rating are Arlington County, Charlottesville, Danville, Portsmouth, Richmond, and Roanoke (City). 

The rating criterion covers three critical elements in a municipal fire protection system.  The Fire Department accounts for half of the rating elements, followed by the municipal water system and the telecommunications-processing center.  All three elements of this review procedure made improvements over the former rating evaluation.  Some of the improvements were the introduction of electronic alerting systems for the fire stations, deployment of mobile data computers, and upgrades in the radio system.  The Newport News Waterworks continued to improve the excellent distribution network and processing capacity to support the demanding water flow required to deal with a large fire. 

The Fire Department has deployed additional personnel and equipment since the last evaluation cycle, which reduces the response time it takes to arrive at a fire emergency.  In addition, the Fire Department has brought on-line a state of the art fire and rescue training academy at Lee Hall, which improves the level of training for recruit and incumbent firefighters. The Fire Department is also able to augment its land-based firefighting capability with the deployment of fireboat Carl Brashear.

The Fire Department will continue to refine its emergency response capability with the long-term goal of continuing movement toward achieving the coveted Class I rating.

Fire Suppression Rating Schedule Feature

Receiving and Handling Fire Alarms
• Credit for Telephone Service
• Credit for Operators
• Credit for Dispatch Circuits

Fire Department
• Credit for Engine Companies
• Credit for Reserve Pumpers
• Credit for Pumper Capacity
• Credit for Ladder Service
• Credit for Reserve Ladder and Service Trucks
• Credit for Distribution
• Credit for Company Personnel
• Credit for Training

Water Supply
• Credit for Supply System
• Credit for Hydrant
• Credit for Inspection and Condition

###