Murfreesboro's ISO Fire Rating

On Sept. 1, 2007, Murfreesboro Fire Department (MFD) moved from a Class Three to a Class Two fire rating and by that into an elite category enjoyed by less than 1 percent of the country’s fire departments. There are only 30 Class One rated departments in the U.S. and none in Tennessee.

The designation means lower fire insurance premiums for commercial businesses and industries, which vastly improves the community’s economic development prospects.

ISO is a New Jersey-based organization hired by insurance companies to evaluate all communities according to a wide variety of criteria in a program it calls its Fire Suppression Rating Schedule. The results of that evaluation are used to assign a Public Protection Classification number from one to 10 to all properties so a fire insurance rating can be assigned.

The rating is based on scores in three major areas, 50 percent on the departments themselves, including a long-term system for training and promotions, new fire stations strategically placed and adequately staffed and the department’s system for equipment depreciation and replacement; 40 percent on the water supply, or the ability of both Murfreesboro Water and Sewer Department and Consolidated Utility District to store and deliver an adequate water supply and 10 percent on communications, or the development over time of an expert emergency communications system of dispatchers.