The Insurance Service Organization (ISO) collects information on fire protection efforts in communities throughout the United States. For each community, ISO analyzes relevant data and assigns a Public Protection Classification (PPC) from 1 to 10. A Class 1 rating represents an exemplary fire suppression program, and Class 10 indicates that the area's fire suppression program does not meet ISO's minimum criteria. This information is used by many insurance companies to help establish fair premiums for homeowners and commercial fire insurance.
As can be seen by the chart below, in 2011 only 61 fire departments had a Class 1 rating, none of which are located in Arizona.
Effective November 1, 2011, the Black Canyon Fire District was able to lower its PPC from a Class 8B to a Class 5 for those properties located 1,000 feet or less from a fire hydrant; Class 7 for properties located more than 1,000 feet from a fire hydrant unless they are located more than 5 miles from the fire station; in these cases the PPC rating is Class 10.
The Black Canyon Fire District encourages each property owner to contact their insurance agent to find out if the Districts new PPC ratings will afford them any insurance premium savings.
