By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
The Northfield Area Fire Department recently underwent its Insurance Service Office ISO review. ISO is an independent company that conducts regular reviews of Fire Departments, giving each a rating of 1 through 10. The score that ISO gives is then used by insurance companies when setting homeowners’ insurance rates. A fire department with a lower score can ultimately help secure lower insurance rates.
Fire Chief Tom Nelson says that Northfield has been rated a four for many years and that, after considerable effort, they were able to lower their score to a three.
“What Brad said is that it may not help residential, individual, single-family homes that much, but it does help commercial, industrial, and business insurance.” – Tom Nelson, Northfield Area Fire Chief on KYMN In The Morning
Listen to the News:
Nelson said that ISO considers many factors, such as response time, the equipment available to the department, the amount of training, and the water systems of the area. He noted that the department scored well in two of the main categories: dispatch and the water systems.
systems, they’re inspected, they’re flushed, and so we get almost all the points that are possible for the water systems in Northfield and Dundas…. So hats off to Dave Bennett and the team at the City of Northfield Water Utilities, and that’s really public works in general. It’s the things, the stuff behind the scenes, that you just assume work.” – Tom Nelson, Northfield Area Fire Chief on KYMN In The Morning
However, Nelson stated that there is one area that rural small-town fire departments have always struggled with, and that’s staffing. To the point that staffing has kept Northfield’s rating at a 4 for several decades.
“It’s hard to get all those points when you have paid on-call firefighters because we’re not just standing around waiting for the next call to come in.” – Tom Nelson, Northfield Area Fire Chief on KYMN In The Morning
A combination of factors contributed to a better rating, including the hiring of a full-time Fire Chief, which has resulted in shorter response times and increased training for firefighters. These factors allowed the department to score high enough to secure a better rating.
Newscasts on KYMN air on weekdays at 6am, 7am, 8:30am, Noon, 3pm, and 5pm. If you miss it live, you can subscribe on your preferred podcast app:
> Click here to listen on Spotify
> Click here to listen on Apple Podcast
Do you have a news tip or press release? Send it to our email: Logan@kymnradio.net
