The Public Protection Classification (PPC) program, is a tool developed by the

Insurance Services Office Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics, is a provider of statistical, actuarial, underwriting, and claims information and analytics; compliance and fraud identification tools; policy language; information abo ...

(ISO) for property and casualty

insurers Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

to properly assess their risk by rating

fire protection Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, compartmentalisation, suppression and investigation of fire and its related emergencies, as we ...

services throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Class determination

ISO collects data for more than 47,000 communities and fire districts throughout the country. The data is then analyzed using a proprietary Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS). The Schedule then assigns a PPC score between 1 and 10 to the department, with ''Class 1'' representing "superior property fire protection" and ''Class 10'' indicating that an area doesn't meet the minimum criteria set by the ISO. On July 1, 2013, the revised FSRS was released, adding an emphasis on a community's effort to limit loss before an incident occurs. In developing a PPC, the following major categories are evaluated: * Emergency Communications: Fire alarm and communication systems, including telephone systems, telephone lines, staffing and dispatching systems. *

Fire Department A fire department (American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in th ...

: The fire department, including equipment, staffing, training and geographic distraction of fire companies. *Water Supply: The water supply system, including the condition and maintenance of hydrants and the amount of available water compared with the amount need to suppress fires. Added 2013 criteria: *

Fire Prevention Fire prevention is a function of many fire departments. The goal of fire prevention is to educate the public on the precautions which should be taken to prevent potentially harmful fires and how to survive these fires in the event that they do o ...

: programs that contain plan review; certificate of occupancy inspections; compliance follow-up; inspection of fire protection equipment; and fire prevention regulations related to fire lanes on area roads, hazardous material routes, fireworks, barbecue grills, and

wildland–urban interface The wildland–urban interface (WUI) is a zone of transition between wilderness (unoccupied land) and land developed by human activity – an area where a built environment meets or intermingles with a natural environment. Human settlements i ...

areas. *Public Fire Safety Education Programs:

fire safety Fire safety is the set of practices intended to reduce the destruction caused by fire. Fire safety measures include those that are intended to prevent the ignition of an uncontrolled fire and those that are used to limit the development and ef ...

education training and programs for schools, private homes and buildings with large loss potential or hazardous conditions and a juvenile fire setter intervention program.

Minimum requirements

To receive a PPC, a fire department must meet minimum infrastructure, staffing and equipment requirements. If a department doesn't meet at least one of the following requirements, then they are assigned a ''Class 10'' rating.

Organization

*Formal fire department organized under state or local laws. *Must have one person responsible for the operation of the department (example:

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

). *Service area must have definite boundaries. *For departments that service multiple communities, a written contract must be present.

Membership

*The department must respond at least four

firefighters A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

to structure fires. The chief may account for one of those required positions.

Training

*The department must conduct at least two hours of training every two months for active firefighters.

Alarm notification

*There must be no delay in receiving alarms and dispatching firefighters/apparatus.

Housing

Apparatus Apparatus may refer to: *Technical term for a body of the Soviet and post-Soviet governments (see Apparatchik) *Machine *Equipment * Critical apparatus, the critical and primary source material that accompanies an edition of a text * "Apparatus" (s ...

must have adequate housing, as to protect it from weather.

References

{{reflist Firefighting in the United States