Department Earns Better Insurance Rating
Oct 5, 2002
The Efland Volunteer Fire Department is pleased to announce that it has
received a new and better insurance rating. This summer, the North Carolina
Department of Insurance (DOI) inspected our Department and submitted their
findings to the Insurance Services Office, Inc. ISO then rates the Department on
a scale of 1 (best) to 10 (unprotected).
We have improved our rating from a class 9 to a class 7
The inspection comes after 5 long years of work to improve the
department. The rating takes into account all aspects of how our Department
functions. The equipment, the training, our response time, communications,
record keeping, and our water supply are all factors that affect a department's
rating. Our neighboring departments’ performance as well as the county
communications also come into play, and we are grateful for their assistance
during this process.
Your insurance costs are in part dependent on the rating of the fire district
in which you live. According to figures prepared by the Department of Insurance,
going from an ISO class 9 to a class 7 could reduce your premium by 15 percent.
This is about $65 per year on a $100,000 home. This is a general range, and
your mileage will vary so don’t get upset at your insurance agent if the amount is
different. Remember, the ISO rating is just one of many factors determining your
premium.
The West Orange Fire District has about $195,911,000 worth of structural
property value. So this improvement in our rating will save the taxpayers in our
district a total of about $127,000 per year.
Another interesting fact: If there were no fire department in Efland you
would live an area with a class 10 rating. Your premium would be about 32%
higher than what you will pay with our class 7 rating. It works out to be about
$170 per 100,000 of valuation. Over the entire district, the savings are $333,000.
Our annual budget is around $150,000 per year. With the new rating we
save the taxpayers $127,000 per year – 84% of what they are currently being
taxed. If we doubled our budget (we are not proposing this!) it would still be
cheaper to have the Fire Department than to have no department at all and have
a class 10 rating. If we increased our budget by $127,000 a year (we are not
proposing this either!) you would pay no more than you’re paying now, but we
could substantially upgrade the Department.
And if the Department were all full time paid the budget would be at least
$750,00 per year. So be sure you value these hard working volunteers and what
they do for you!
Now we have to focus on maintaining this rating. It was a close call
getting the 7 rating. We have two steps to take to insure we keep the rating. We
need an additional engine so that we have two engines responding to a house
fire. Currently, we send one engine to the fire and one to a pond or low flow
hydrant water source. We are also still operating a 29-year-old tanker that must
be replaced. An additional station in the district could help us out even more. So
the bad news is that a tax increase is in the future to cover these cost. The good
news is that you’ll be getting better service for less money because of the savings
on your homeowner insurance due to this improved rating.
While the above changes will let us maintain our 7 rating, obtaining a 6
rating seems unlikely at this time. There are many factors out of our control that
make future improvements in the rating and savings to the taxpayers unlikely.
We have no input into water supply lines being put down in our district. Currently,
the County has allowed the use of 6” lines in all new water supplies. As a result,
all the hydrants on these lines are considered low flow hydrants and they do not
help our rating as well as a 10” line might. We do not get to see any planning for
subdivisions, and so we have no input on this. Even the new Habitat for
Humanity subdivision has 6” lines and is considered low flow, having hydrants
that flow only 500-700 GPM. It is our hope that the County will learn the
difference between drinking water supply and fire suppression supply and
consider larger pipes when approving subdivisions and water improvements.
Managing growth is a good thing to do but it should not be done by constricting
the fire suppression water supply. The Habitat subdivision was subsidized by the
county to encourage affordable housing. That caring concept should apply to the
ongoing cost of owning a home, not just to the initial price. Lower insurance
ratings help everyone out, and help make Orange County more affordable. We
look forward to working with the County as part of the planning process and feel
that our input can save the taxpayers some money.
We also hope that some sort of false alarm ordinance can be worked out.
While a policy of “we will never bill a citizen for a false alarm” is good in spirit,
false alarms can hurt fire department ratings. Someone who has a false alarm a
month might need a financial incentive to deal with the problem. All alarms
should be treated with the same response and approach, but everyone should not
have to pay for a few people who don’t have their house in order.
Another cost down the road is the annexation of part of our tax district by
Mebane. Current annexation plans will cause the department to loose about 10%
of its revenue, and we will have to make that up with a tax increases should the
Commissioners approve that annexation.
The Efland Volunteer Fire Department was incorporated on September
11th, 1972. We have enjoyed serving the community for 30 years. There have
been incredible changes in the fire service and the county over that time. We
look forward to the challenge of the next 30 years of volunteers serving the
citizens of the county.
Kevin Brooks, Chief
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