Insurance Surveyor Rates City’s Fire Services Among Best in U.S.

A national insurance advisory service has rated firefighting capabilities in Glendale as among the finest in the nation, city officials announced Wednesday.

Insurance Services Office Inc., which rates 40,000 cities with populations under 250,000, has upgraded Glendale’s rating from Class 2 to Class 1, making it one of only 15 cities in the nation to achieve the highest ranking, Glendale Fire Chief Richard Hinz said.

The change, effective Nov. 1, could result in lower insurance premiums for homeowners and businesses, Hinz said.

Randy J. Surber, assistant manager of survey services for the ISO regional office in Los Angeles, said Glendale was given the highest rating after an extensive survey of its fire communications system, firefighting equipment, personnel, water pressure, distribution and supply.

He said only 14 other cities have achieved the Class 1 since the company began the ratings on a scale of 1 to 10 more than 40 years ago.

“It’s quite a distinction for Glendale, no question about it,” Surber said.

The company, the only service in the country that offers the advisory rating, serves 1,300 member insurance underwriters.

Surber declined to comment on what effect, if any, the new rating will have on insurance premiums. But he said commercial businesses in the past have realized savings of up to 10%.

Other California cities with the highest ranking are Santa Ana, Stockton, Anaheim, Beverly Hills and Vernon. Vernon Fire Chief Larry Spadt said property owners in his city were given insurance premium discounts of 5% to 10% after Vernon was rated Class 1 in 1990.

Surber said the complexities of the Proposition 103 insurance initiative in California and other recent changes make the effect of the change unpredictable.

The rating in Glendale, which is resurveyed by ISO every 10 years, has improved by one classification step in each of the last three decades, said Hinz, who was named chief in January after 28 years with the department. “It’s indicative of the effort we have made over the years to continually and steadily improve,” he said.

Also, the Glendale Fire Department in August was selected for the highest award for achievement by the Western Fire Chiefs Assn., a division of the International Assn. of Fire Chiefs.

The annual award is granted to one department in each of two categories, based on population, from the Western states. Glendale, with 195 Fire Department employees, was given the award in the large population category.

Hinz said Glendale was recognized for environmental issues, particularly the handling and disposal of hazardous wastes. The city two years ago became one of the first in the nation to open an Environmental Management Center for disposal of household hazardous waste.