(Beaver Dam) The Beaver Dam Fire Department has been awarded a Public Protection Classification of 2. The rating comes following a thorough review by the Insurance Services Office, or ISO, and is an improvement on the previous classification of 3 that was given in 2019. Beaver Dam Fire Chief Michael Wesle highlights several changes made since then that helped the department earn their 2 rating.
“The main things within the department that have changed that have affected and improved our score come in relation to career staffing,” says Wesle. “So, the referendum that added six full-time personnel definitely helped us improve our score…we have all sorts of credits throughout our score…but for company personnel and our deployment analysis…basically, that that is…is how many firefighters are going out the door and what is our plan to get them out the door.”
ISO is an independent group that serves private and public organizations by providing information about risk and a community’s ability to suppress structure fires.
Data is collected in four categories: Needed Fire Flows, Emergency Communications, Fire Department, and Water Supply. The data is then graded and assigned to the community’s score on a 100-point scale. Fire departments are then given a classification between 1 and 10.
Chief Wesle adds that while many factors impact a classification, the department’s training program was found to be the determining factor.
“Last year we were able to accumulate a little over ten-thousand hours of training…which is exceptional for a department our size…that comes out, I want to say, to roughly two-hundred-and-fifty to two-hundred-and-seventy-five hours per employee,” says Wesle. “That played a really big factor in getting this rating.”
By the fire department improving its classification from a 3 to a 2, property owners in Beaver Dam may realize lower fire insurance costs. The ISO rating also puts the city in the top 6.5-percent of all communities across the country.
