An assessment of fire protection services conducted by the Insurance Services Office's (ISO) Public Protection Classification (PPC) Service has ranked the Hicksville Fire Department as the highest on Long Island as well as among the top one percent in New York and throughout the United States. Of 69 departments in Nassau County, Hicksville is one of only six that has achieved a PPC of 2, the best given in the county; none of Suffolk County's 109 departments received Class 1 or Class 2 designations.

In determining a department's ranking, ISO officials analyze data gathered from municipal officials and share it with insurance companies. Nearly 45,000 departments across the country and 2,442 in New York are assessed using the PPC formula. According to the ISO website, the rating gauges the "capacity of the local fire department to respond if flames engulf a property in which the fire company has a financial stake." The findings are a means of assessing fire protection in a community and are used by insurance carriers in setting rates for insurance on residential and commercial properties.

ISO is an independent organization that serves insurance companies, fire departments, insurance regulators and others by providing information about risk. According to the office's website (www.iso.com), ISO collects information on a community's public fire protection and analyzes the data using its Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) which reviews the fire-fighting capabilities of individual communities. The schedule measures the major elements of a community's fire suppression system and develops a numerical grading or PPC from 1 to 10. Class 1 represents the best public protection while Class 10 indicates no recognized protection.

Ten percent of the overall grading is based on how well the fire department receives fire alarms and dispatches fire fighting resources, including telephone systems, the number of telephone lines, staffing and dispatching systems. Fifty percent of the grading is based on a fire department's first-alarm response and initial attack to minimize potential loss and includes review of equipment carried on apparatus, pumping capacity, reserve apparatus, department personnel, staffing, training and geographical distribution of fire companies. A review of the water supply system accounts for the remaining 40 percent of the grading. This includes careful evaluation of the amount of available water compared with the amount needed to suppress fires in relation to hydrant size, type and installation.

"On average, communities with superior fire-protection services and therefore good Public Protection Classifications have lower fire losses than communities whose fire protection services are not as comprehensive," states the ISO website. The dollar value of a better PPC varies by state, but on average across the country, the cost of fire losses for homeowners policies in communities graded Class 9 are 65 percent higher than in communities graded Class 5.

The classification of the department's ability to fight fires helps a community determine the effectiveness of its fire protection service and assists fire districts in planning and budgeting for facilities, equipment and training. The standard with which the departments are rated is the same throughout the United States. Hicksville has maintained a Class 2 ISO ranking since 2001. Prior to that time, the department was ranked Class 3.

According to ISO's Dave Dasgupta, the process in which fire departments are rated is "very painstaking and detailed." He said that typically community officials - in Nassau County's case it would most likely be the fire marshal's office - are asked to evaluate of fire department every 24 months by filling out a questionnaire.

"We analyze the responses to see if there were significant changes," said Dasgupta, who added that department officials and members of the community are encouraged to notify ISO of significant changes so that the department can be re-evaluated. He also stressed that ISO's services are at no cost to taxpayers. "This does not cost the community any money," Dasgupta said. "It is the insurance companies who are paying for the [PPC] program."

William McKee, vice chairman of the Hicksville Board of Fire Commissioners, said that the district's excellent ISO rating makes a significant difference to taxpayers. "[Residents] insurance rates are calculated based on the fire department's ISO rating," said McKee. "It sets the cost of what insurance should be. So when we produce an excellent ISO rating, it reduces residents' rates."

McKee added that maintaining a high rating is an ongoing project. "We have to make sure we keep our training standards and equipment up," he said. "We have to be state of the art on everything. Doing so, is an overall effort between the board of fire commissioners, the chiefs and all our members."