Bloomingdale fire district earns top insurance rating

Bloomingdale Fire Protection District No. 1 recently received the highest rating possible from the Insurance Services Office, placing it in the top 1 percent of all fire departments in the U.S. for its ability to respond to emergencies.

Bloomingdale is now one of only six fire agencies in the state to be recognized as an ISO 1.

The insurance office collects information from more than 48,000 municipal fire protection agencies across the country to analyze relevant data and assign a Public Protection Classification rating of between 1 and 10, with 1 the highest.

The classification is based on the three main areas of a community's fire protection capabilities: emergency communications, fire department operational considerations and water supply.

It also includes a community risk reduction section that recognizes community efforts to reduce losses through fire prevention, public fire safety education and fire investigation. Many insurance companies use this information to help determine their customer's property insurance premiums.

"Our achievement of the Class 1 rating demonstrates the professionalism of all fire district members and their commitment to provide the highest levels of service to our community," Chief Jeff Janus said. "I am very appreciative of the dedication and expertise of the members of the water division of the public works department; our dispatch agency, DuComm; and our neighboring fire departments, especially members of the West Suburban Fire Rescue Alliance, whom we have partnered with for automatic aid and without whom this achievement would not have been possible."

The report from the ISO evaluation will be studied in detail to identify additional areas that may be improved, Janus said.