The Susquehanna Hose Company of Havre de Grace celebrated the latest Class 2 ISO – Insurance Services Office – rating at a dinner with city and Harford County officials and other members of the community held April 2 at the No. 4 firehouse on Revolution Street.
Fire Chief Scott Hurst spoke at length about the multiple details the Insurance Services Office considers when setting a Public Protection Classification, which then affects a community's property insurance rates.
The classifications range from Class 10 to Class 1, with Class 1 being the best.
Havre de Grace has a Class 2 rating for 2014, one of four communities in Maryland with such a high rating. Havre de Grace is ranked with Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington, D.C., Hurst said.
Out of 267 ISO ratings issued in Maryland, no communities in the state have a Class 1 rating, according to data presented by Hurst, and the majority of counties and municipalities have ratings between Class 4 and Class 9.
The ISO rates 49,010 communities and 30,052 fire departments and companies across the nation, and 0.7 percent of those rated have Class 2, making Havre de Grace – which has an all-volunteer fire service – one of the top in the nation for fire protection.
Hurst said 10 percent of the rating is covered by the local emergency dispatch system, and he lauded Harford County for the quality of its 911 communications, as well as 40 percent for the municipal water infrastructure and 50 percent for the fire company's firefighting capabilities.
Havre de Grace had a Class 2 rating when the ISO did an evaluation in 2010, but Hurst noted the fire company's score improved by about five points – from 42.69 out of 50 to 47.17 – from 2010 to 2014.
The dispatching score was 8.85 out of 10, which was the same score in 2010, and the water supply score dipped slightly, from 30.54 out of 40 to 30.30, Hurst noted.
Fire company leaders praised county and city officials for their support, and city leaders praised the fire company in return.
"Thank you to you all," City Councilman John Correri said. "Thank you very much!"
Mayor Wayne Dougherty and County Councilman Curtis Beulah, who represents Havre de Grace, were also among the elected officials at the dinner.
Allstate agent Andrea Hulse, who lives in Havre de Grace and owns her agency in Abingdon, also attended the celebration.
Each insurance firm takes the ISO rating into account differently, and some, such as State Farm, do not use it at all, according to Hurst.
Hulse, who stressed she could only speak for Allstate, said Havre de Grace's high rating allows her firm to offer discounts and competitive rates to local home and business owners.
"We are more competitive in Havre de Grace because of the high ISO rating," she said.