Effective June 1, 2024, North Metro Fire's ISO rating improves to 02/2x. 

In 2024, the Insurance Services Office (ISO) gave North Metro Fire a Public Protection Classification (PPC) grade of 02/2x -- a significant improvement from its previous grade of 04/4x. The PPC grade, also referred to as an ISO rating, ranks North Metro Fire in the top 6.5% in the country based on fire suppression capabilities.   

About the Rating

The Insurance Services Office collects and evaluates information from communities in the United States on their structure fire suppression capabilities. The data is analyzed using ISO's fire suppression rating schedule, and then a Public Protection Classification grade is assigned to the community.

The PPC program plays an important role in the underwriting process at insurance companies. In fact, most U.S. insurers – including the largest ones – use PPC information as part of their decision-making process when deciding what business to write, coverages to offer or prices to charge for personal or commercial property insurance.

ISO's PPC program evaluates communities according to a uniform set of criteria, incorporating nationally recognized standards developed by the National Fire Protection Association and the American Water Works Association. A community's PPC grade depends on:

• Needed Fire Flows, which are representative building locations used to determine the theoretical amount of water necessary for fire suppression purposes.
• Emergency Communications, including emergency reporting, telecommunicators, and dispatching systems.
• Fire Department, including equipment, staffing, training, geographic distribution of fire companies, operational considerations, and community risk reduction.
• Water Supply, including inspection and flow testing of hydrants, alternative water supply operations, and a careful evaluation of the amount of available water compared with the amount needed to suppress fires up to 3,500 gpm.

The ISO rating/PPC grade relates only to suppression of first alarm structure fires and does not factor in response capabilities for other types of calls that fire departments respond to.