Survey Finds Fire Depts' Resources Taxed

NU Online News Service, Oct. 2, 11:11 a.m.EDT?Nearly three-quarters of U.S. fire chiefs say theirdepartments' capacities cannot keep abreast of the building boomsin their areas, according to a survey.

The chiefs said soaring residential and commercial developmentis locating buildings far from firehouses and straining waterresources--hurting their departments' ability to protect theircommunities. More than 80 percent said they expect the problem toget worse in the next three years.

The survey, commissioned by Insurance Services Office in JerseyCity, N.J., and conducted by Princeton, N.J.-based Opinion ResearchCorp. International last July, is based on responses from 500 firechiefs, fire marshals and commissioners representing variousfire-protection jurisdictions across the United States.

The study said respondents cited two main factors in explainingwhy many fire chiefs feel their resources will be strained evenfurther in coming years.

In the survey, 77 percent of the respondents said one mainconcern is that they expect most future growth in their communitiesto occur in places where water mains, hydrants and hauled-waterservices need to be improved. Additionally, 51 percent of thosepolled predicted that more fire stations will be needed in areaswhere most of the growth is likely to occur.

But despite such problems, 91 percent of fire chiefs in thesurvey said getting necessary funding remains a significantobstacle to making improvements to fire-protection services.

Furthermore, respondents also cited a number of other seriousobstacles to improving service. Nearly 80 percent describedrecruiting and retaining firefighters--whether career/paid orvolunteer--as difficult, while 46 percent said there is a lack ofcooperation from local water companies, and 69 percent expresseddifficulty in accessing adequate water supplies.

Opinion Research Corp. also found that some 64 percent of thefire chiefs surveyed consider their ISO Public ProtectionClassification (PPC) when making decisions regarding theircommunities' fire protection. And some 76 percent of those surveyedplan to use the PPC program in the next three years for planning,budgeting for or justifying improvements.

ISO noted that insurers representing more than 97 percent of theU.S. personal and commercial property marketplace use and supportPPC to price, underwrite and market homeowners and commercialproperty policies. ISO develops PPC for the fire-suppressionabilities of more than 45,000 fire jurisdictions around thecountry, by evaluating fire departments, water supplies and alarmdispatch systems.

ISO noted that fire-mitigation capabilities of communitiescorrelate highly with insured losses and that betterclassifications generally result in lower insurance premiums forproperty owners in better-protected areas.