ISO Class 3 · rated 2022
Class 3: the rating that lowers your insurance bill.
Every home and business in the district is rated for fire protection on a scale from 1 to 10. Insurers price your policy on that number. Crains Creek's is a 3. Without a department it would be a 10.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Best protection
No recognized protection
- 3 Crains Creek, within 5 road miles of Station 23
- 9E Five to six road miles from Station 23
What it takes
What keeps it a 3
Members train on Tuesday nights at the station and with the county's departments at the Sandhills Community College training center. They keep up the static water points the tankers draw from, and volunteers take their certification classes free.
The rate table
What each class costs
The North Carolina Rate Bureau multiplies the base homeowner rate by a factor for your protection class. Class 3 and Class 5 are nearly the same. The gap opens at 7 and becomes a cliff at 9E and 10.
Brick or masonry homes use a lower set of factors with the same gaps: 0.88× at Class 3, 1.25× at 9E, 1.55× at 10.
Your house
What Class 3 saves you
Rated Class 3 · what you pay
$2,400
per year, with the department
Same house rated 9E
$3,429
43% more
Same house rated 10
$4,286
79% more
Saved every year$1,029 to $1,886
Over 30 years$30,870 to $56,580
Rate Bureau base factors; insurers deviate from them, so your agent has the exact figure for your policy. The low end assumes the district without this station would be rated 9E; the high end, a 10.
The five-mile line
Where the rating reaches
Class 3 covers every property within five road miles of Station 23. From five to six road miles out, the state rates the same house a 9E; past six it is a 10. Road miles, not straight-line, so two neighbors can land on different sides of a line.
Not sure which side you are on? Call the station. There are sometimes ways to fix it, like a certified water source closer to your property.
How the score is built
A hundred points, earned every year
Fire department · 50
Engines and tankers against the national standard, the gear on them, how many members actually turn out, the training hours logged every month, and an engine within 1.5 road miles of the homes it protects.
Water supply · 40
Can the district deliver the water a fire needs? Where county hydrants are too far away or too weak, Crains Creek keeps static water points, each marked with a red post and a blue reflective sign, and hauls water from them by tanker.
Communications · 10
The 911 center: how fast a call becomes a page, dispatcher staffing, and radio coverage across the district.
The bonus points are prevention: code enforcement, public education and fire investigation. All of it is re-inspected, so a Class 3 is kept, not owned.
Keep it a 3
The rating is the department. The department is you.
Training hours, tanker upkeep, gear that passes inspection: the points behind Class 3 are paid for by the people who live here. A gift or a few hours a month is how it stays a 3.
Sources
- North Carolina Rate Bureau, homeowners protection/construction factors (circular P-17-4, effective April 1, 2018)
- ISO Fire Suppression Rating Schedule: fire department 50 points, water supply 40, emergency communications 10, community risk reduction up to 5.5
- Sandhills Sentinel, "Crains Creek Fire Department improves rating," August 26, 2022
- Rating issued August 24, 2022, effective December 1, 2022: source.