The new chief of the Peachtree City Fire Department, Ed Eiswerth, is pushing the construction of two new fire stations and the hiring of additional personnel with the aim of getting a better ISO rating which might — emphasis on “might” — mean lower fire insurance rates for the citizens of PTC.

Sorry to bust some bureaucrats’ bubble; but better ISO ratings do not mean spit. In fact, some advanced communities, like Scottsdale, Ariz., were so incensed by the union-driven behavior of ISO ratings formulae that the Scottsdale’s leadership opted out of ISO rating’s system and self-insured for a number of years, providing substantially lower fire insurance rates for its citizens and businesses — 30 to 40 percent less than their highly rated ISO neighbor, Phoenix.

So, what’s the big deal with ISO?

Here in Georgia, the Atlanta Fire Department for a long time had the best ISO rating of #1 and neighboring DeKalb, which protected as many people AND had twice the fire protection territory, had an ISO rating of #6.

One would think that my yearly fire insurance payments for my Midtown Atlanta house would be less than my parent’s house in DeKalb. One would be wrong.

My fire insurance payments were almost four times more than my parents; and because Atlanta’s Fire Department was so pathetic, private insurance companies would not provide residential fire insurance!

I had to purchase fire insurance through a Georgia State insurance program for high risk areas. Also, when I first bought my house, AFD had 40 stations and about 1,200 employees vs. DeKalb with 16 stations and about 400 employees. Taxes to fund DeKalb’s Fire Department were much less than Atlanta, etc.

In the 10-plus years I’ve lived here in Peachtree City, I’ve been involved as an unpaid volunteer on one business fire and a few other emergencies and viewed the aftermath of moronic firefighting at its Keystone best.

My observation: PTC Fire Department is even more pathetic than Atlanta’s.

Conclusion: Let’s not build two new expensive fire stations that won’t do a thing to make PTC residents safer OR reduce fire insurance rates.

William J. Bryan

Peachtree City, Ga.