BALTIMORE, MD - Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced today that the City of Baltimore’s fire protection capabilities have been rated among the best in the nation by the Insurance Services Offices (ISO), a rating organization for the property/casualty insurance industry.



Baltimore received a Public Protection Classification rating of 1, the top of the evaluation scale. ISO evaluates 48,000 communities, ranking them in Class 1 through Class 10. In 2015 only 132 communities received a grade of Class 1, putting Baltimore within the top 0.3 percent nationally.



The key factors evaluated by ISO include emergency communications, fire department response capabilities, water supply, and community risk reduction.



To determine a community's Public Protection Classification, ISO conducts a field survey and deploys expert staff to visit communities to observe and evaluate features of the fire protection systems.



The rating is important to Baltimore City communities and its Fire Department. Communities whose rating improves may get lower insurance rates. The rating provides fire departments with a valuable benchmark, which can be used for planning and budgeting and justifying fire protection improvements.



Mayor Rawlings-Blake acknowledged the leadership of Department of Public Works Director Rudolph S. Chow, P.E., and Fire Chief Niles Ford in making sure the City is ready to suppress fires.



“Providing water to drink is the most important function of any Public Works agency, but water is also vital to fire suppression,” Director Chow said. “DPW is investing in infrastructure replacement, facilities upgrades, and new technology to ensure that the City and surrounding Counties always have water when needed.”



DPW maintains almost 23,000 fire hydrants in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Of these, 9,100 are in the City, and 13,750 are in the County. Each day, DPW crews and contractors are renewing, repairing, or replacing fire hydrants.



Most U.S. insurers — including the largest ones — use Public Protection Classification information as part of the decision-making when deciding what businesses to write, coverages to offer or prices to charge for personal or commercial property insurance, according to ISO.