Angels Improves Fire Protection Rating

The Angels Camp Fire Department has moved up a couple of notches in the quality of its fire protection service.

The Insurance Services Office Inc., a national organization, periodically reviews a number of factors to rate communities´ fire services.

It then ranks the community by ISO Levels from 1 to 10, with 1 being the best and 10 the worst.

Angels Camp retained its level of ISO 5, Fire Chief Scott Kenley said.

But where the city was previously hovering on the border of a 6, it has improved several notches.

“We´re moving closer to a Class 4,” Kenley said.

He downplayed the significance of the improvement, saying there wasn´t a good deal of insurance savings the average homeowner would realize even if they moved to a 4.

However, slipping to a 6 could have meant an increase.

Depending on where you are on the ISO scale, improving from one class to another can save a homeowner $100 a year in insurance premiums.

Items considered in November´s review of Angels Camp included the department´s ability to receive and handle initial calls, the availability of water, and the capability of putting that water on the fire.

Out of a 100 percent credit, Angels Camp got 54.67 percent.

“We just barely got into 50 percent last grading,” Kenley said, adding the previous review was sometime in the 1980s.

Out of a possible 10 percent grading for handling alarms, the city got 8 percent. It received 21.85 percent out of 50 percent for its ability to deliver its service, and 32.16 percent out of 40 percent for its water supply.

ISO reviewers said the city needed to improve its record-keeping of personnel training.

Kenley said they have already tackled that issue with the addition of an Information Management System computer program.

Calaveras Enterprise story by Craig Koscho. For more Calaveras news, click: calaverasenterprise.com