OKLAHOMA CITY – A little over a million U.S. high school students played 11-man football in the 2018-19 school year. At roughly the same time, more than 73,712 college students competed in NCAA football; of that number 16,380 were eligible for the National Football League draft. And of THAT number, 254 — 1.55% — were picked to join NFL teams.
In similar fashion, the Insurance Services Office (ISO), a company based in New Jersey, rates more
than 50,000 fire departments across the United States. Of those, only 388 - less than 1% – have achieved the preeminent Class 1 Public Protection Classification (PPC) rating, State Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready said recently.
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, Oklahoma has 745 registered fire departments. Just six of them have earned the Class 1 rating – and the Lawton Fire Department is one of those.
Most of the fire departments in Oklahoma have an ISOPPC rating of 4, 5 or 9, said Lois Spinn, ISO field coordinator for the State Insurance Department. A 10 is the worst rating possible.
The LFD was evaluated by ISO representatives in 2017, Fire Chief Raanon Adams recalled. “We were a ‘3’ at that time and hoped we’d get a ‘2’,” he said. “We were blown away when we were notified” on May 1, 2018, “that we had jumped to a ‘1’.”
ISO’s grading scale ranges from 0 to 105.5 points, and 90 is considered Class 1. Lawton’s Fire Department received a score of 92.29, Adams said.
DEPARTMENTS GRADED IN MULTIPLE AREAS
ISO grades fire departments on the broad categories of emergency communications (10%), fire department (50%), and water supply (40%). Community Risk Reduction is worth extra credit of up to 5.5 points.
Each department is evaluated in a variety of areas, ranging from number of personnel, training certifications, training hours (the PPC checklist calls for 20 hours per firefighter per month), fire equipment, fire hose and hydrant testing. Record-keeping – the ability to produce accurate data – is another category in which ISO evaluates fire departments.
Community risk reduction is yet another area where points are won or lost. This covers topics such as fire prevention, code enforcement, and public fire safety education.
A maximum of 40 points of the overall score is based on the community’s water supply. This part of the survey focuses on whether the community has sufficient water supply for fire suppression beyond daily maximum consumption. ISO surveys all components of the water supply system, and reviews fire hydrant inspections and frequency of flow testing.
ISO also counts the number of fire hydrants that are no more than 1,000 feet from particular locations.
A maximum of 50 points of the overall score is based on the fire department. ISO reviews the distribution of fire companies throughout the area and checks whether the department tests its pumps regularly and inventories each engine and ladder company’s equipment according to National Fire Protection Association standards.
ISO also reviews the fire department’s records to determine factors such as the type and extent of training provided to the personnel; the number of people who participate in training; firefighter response to emergencies; and maintenance and testing of the fire department’s equipment.
The LFD was evaluated on its number of fire stations per population, the station locations based on coverage area, and the department’s “turnout” time. “Our benchmark is 60 seconds max to be out the door after the bell sounds, and to be at the scene in no more than 4 minutes,” Adams said. “And we aim to achieve that benchmark no less than 90% of the time.”
With an estimated population of nearly 93,000, Lawton has eight fire stations, each of which has a fire engine (a pumper truck). In addition, the fire department will move this year into the new $35.5 million public safety build- ing just east of downtown. However, Adams said he will remain at the historic Central Fire Station downtown.
The LFD has a pumper positioned within a mile-and-a-half radius of any location in the city limits, the chief said.
The department also has two ladder trucks, he said, in the event a fire were to erupt in, for example, the 13-story Benjamin O. Davis Highrise or the Cameron University dormitories. One ladder truck is at Station 1 (Central) and the other is on the west side of town at Station 5, at 52nd and Gore Boulevard, across from Eisenhower High School.
“The location of a ladder truck is not as important as its response time,” said Adams, who became the fire chief about a year and a half ago.
The LFD also has two frontline brush trucks and two backups. Each of the department’s trucks is staffed by at least three firefighters when responding to a call.
FIREFIGHTERS UNDERGO CONTINUOUS TRAINING
Lawton’s fire department has 142 uniform personnel, which includes fire marshals and training officers, and 51 firefighters. The department is staffed around-the-clock with three crews, 24/7/365.
The department responds to approximately 12,000 calls per year, ledgers reflect. “Last year we were down a bit: 11,976 calls,” Adams said.
The LFD doesn’t do medical transports – that’s the province of Kirk’s Emergency Medical Service – “but we are first-responders on emergency medical calls,” the chief said.
Most of the LFD’s calls – “north of 70% of them” – are medical calls, Adams said. Consequently, since 2015 all LFD personnel have had minimum standard Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training, and now nearly all of the department’s personnel have had advanced EMT training. “It’s a job requirement,” Adams said.
“Our folks also spend a lot of time training in how to respond to hazardous materials spills, trench rescues, and aerial operations.”
In fact, Lawton firefighters are training almost continuously, in fire protection or medical procedures, when they’re not answering duty calls, Adams said.
There’s “no clear answer” on how a fire department’s ISO rating affects local insurance rates, Adams said. However, as a rough rule of thumb, a rating of up to 3 will result in some reduction of a homeowner’s insurance premiums, while an ISO rating of 2 or 1 will have a bigger effect on insurance rates for commercial property.
That’s because of the number of firefighters and fire trucks required to suppress a business fire, particularly in a building such as the Central Mall, Adams said.