Some homeowners may see a reduction in their fire insurance premiums

Some homeowners in Peachtree City may see a reduction in their homeowner’s insurance premium as the city’s fire safety rating is being upgraded, officials announced this week.

The Insurance Service Office (ISO) Public Protection Classification is going from a class four to a class three effective Feb. 1, 2010. All homeowners must contact their insurance company in order to receive any benefit; however, some companies may offer no associated discount, officials warn.

The upgrading of the safety rating is largely due to the addition of new personnel to the fire service, as there are now 19 firefighters on duty each day with an additional four volunteers, said Fire Chief Ed Eiswerth.

None of the accomplishments, however, could have been achieved without commitment from city residents and the firefighters themselves, Eiswerth said.

“It took a lot of work from everybody: our elected officials and the citizens who pay taxes to buy the equipment and personnel we need,” Eiswerth said. “... Obviously we will continue trying to get better.”

The class three rating puts Peachtree City among the top 6.4 percent of more than 55,000 fire departments in the U.S.

In addition to its larger personnel base, the city has also upgraded its fleet of fire apparatus and adopted a vehicle replacement plan, and with new city training facilities the amount and quality of training has improved also, Eiswerth said. The city has its own burn building, pump testing facility, roof simulator, gas fire simulator, and other modern training aids.

In addition to the fire department review, ISO’s rating also evaluates the status of the city’s water system and its communications system, which total 50 percent of the final ISO score.

The last time Peachtree City was reviewed by ISO, it fell just 1.24 points short of the class three rating. That was partly due to a lack of manpower and not enough ladder trucks, reserve vehicles, equipment and fire stations, officials said.

Recent fire department achievements include:

• Inspections of all the commercial and industrial facilities within Peachtree City were conducted twice a year and all pre-plans are now in electronic format and updated regularly. Computers were added to all vehicles.

• The number of radios available were increased and the Fayette County 911 Center upgraded it’s monitoring equipment. Generators were added to all city’s fire stations and the Fayette County 911 Center. Additional living space was added for additional firefighters including volunteers who help staff the equipment.

• Additional water supply was added to the Fayette County Water System. All the hydrants were tested, maintained, and painted by fire department personnel.