Loyal Fire Chief Richard Meyer reports good news in his department’s latest office by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) audit. The audit resulted in

The audit resulted in a fire insurance rating of “3” for hydrant areas and “4” in non-hydrant areas serviced by the Loyal Fire Department.

“This is really good, especially for a volunteer department,” Meyer said. “There aren’t too many other volunteer departments with a ‘4’ in a non-hydrant area.”

He said a non-hydrant area is one that’s not within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant.

“That would be most of the people we serve in Loyal,” said Meyer, who said the department has 17 other volunteers outside of himself.

Meyer said ISO performs the audits about every five years. When last performed, the department received ratings of “7” and “8” for hydrant and non-hydrant areas, respectively. Through the Public

Through the Public Protection Classification (PPC) program, ISO evaluates the quality of public fire protection of tens of thousands of departments nationwide and assigns a PPC grading from 1 to 10.

The lower the number, the better the grade.

Insurance companies use the PPC to help establish premiums and municipalities use it as a benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of their fire-protection services.

Meyer said the new, favorable ratings are the result of many people working together to make it happen.

“There was a lot of hard work by the fire department personnel,” he said. “It involves a lot of training and record keeping.

“It also involves a lot of cooperation.”

Meyer said the rating was a “result of county tax dollars being able to buy equipment and supply that area.”

The department also raises funds with its annual “chili supper” benefit. However, Meyer said

However, Meyer said the department is canceling this year’s event in an effort to provide as much safety to citizens as possible.