ISO Commercial Risk Services, Inc.
By JOHN L. CROOKS, CPCU, Regional Director, Chicago Operations Center
The ISO Commercial Risk Services, Inc. regularly
performs town grading surveys in all communities and
areas which have public fire protection. The Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) is utilized by
ISO/CRS, Inc., in the grading survey process.
The Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) is
adopted and used in 47 states as an objective analysis of
fire suppression features in a municipality, measuring
major differences between cities and recognizing the
suppression potential of those cities to handle buildings
once they are burning. The entire thrust is to quantify,
on a relative scale of 1 through 10, the capabilities of a
community to control these fires, and thus limit the
resulting loss. The FSRS is intended to credit any system, equipment, apparatus or personnel level which is
brought to bear on the suppression problem.
Credit is allocated through review and evaluation of
three major features — Fire Alarm, Fire Department
and Water Supply.
The review of the Fire Alarm system, worth 10% of
the total grading, places emphasis on the performance
of handling and dispatching fire alarms. The review of
the Fire Department, worth 50% of the total grading,
concerns itself with the fire department's first alarm
response because of the importance of the initial attack
to minimize potential loss. Items include the review of
existing engine and ladder companies, the distribution
of fire stations and apparatus, equipment carried on
apparatus, pumping capacity, department manning
levels and training. The Water Supply review, worth
40% of the total grading, considers the actual water
supply that is available for fire suppression at representative locations throughout the city.
Countrywide, there are over 28,000 graded communities by ISO/CRS, Inc., of which only fourteen are
Class 1. They are Baton Rouge, LA, Santa Ana, CA,
Stockton, CA, Macon, GA, Pensacola, FL, Hialeah, FL,
Springfield, IL, Anaheim, CA, Beverly Hills, CA, Las
Vegas, NE, Vernon, CA, Oak Lawn, IL, Arcadia, CA
and Lisle-Woodridge Fire District, IL. There are approximately 70 Class 2 areas countrywide.
In Illinois, there are 1,500 graded areas, of which
only three are Class 1 — Springfield, Oak Lawn and the
Lisle-Woodridge Fire District. There are twelve Class 2
cities and graded areas — Chicago, Broadview, Champaign, Skokie, Mount Prospect, Rockford, Oak Park,
Elmhurst, Buffalo Grove, Libertyville, Naperville and
the Orland Fire District.
Page 12 / Illinois Municipal Review / January 1994
|