In early August the Champion Township Fire Department completed a day long survey/inspection with the Insurance Services Office, or better known as ISO. ISO is a company located out of New Jersey, who, through the inspection of fire departments throughout the United States, sets the Public Protection Classification for each municipality. This classification is what insurance companies use to set the rates of both commercial and residential rates within our communities. Areas that ISO focuses on during their survey are as follows:

ISO rates communities based on a 1-10 scale. (1) being the best, and 10 the worst. Prior to our recent inspection Champion Township was a Public Protection Class of a split 6/9. This classification means that in the areas that have fire hydrants throughout the township, we were a class 6, and those areas without fire hydrants were a class 9. We are happy to announce that the results of our 2017 survey show that we dropped to a Class 4 in the areas with fire hydrants, and a class 4y in the non-fire hydrant areas of the township. There are many reasons why our rating has dropped, to include the maintenance of the hydrants throughout the township, training, 911 capabilities and the automatic response of our surrounding fire departments on all structure fires. The current protection class will go into effect on March 1, 2018 and you should see some type of reduction in your homeowner’s insurance when your renewal comes up. Please feel free to contact Chief Hickey if you have any questions regarding the new protection classification for Champion Township.