FIRE: “It's the largest single cause of property loss in the United States. In the last decade, fires have caused direct losses of more than $120 billion and countless billions more in related costs.”
(Source: http://www.iso.com/studies_analyses/ppc_program/)
Carmel-by-the-Sea
City Council
Regular Meeting
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
VI. Appearances
Anyone wishing to address the City Council on matters within the jurisdiction of the City and are not on the agenda may do so now. Matters not appearing on the City Council’s agenda will not receive action at this meeting but may be referred to staff for a future meeting.
Carmel-by-the-Sea resident Monte Miller:
“As a resident, I have a question on the Fire Report. It’s never been clear to me that everything’s been tested, I know that we’ve got 29 fire hydrants that don’t work, but it seems like it’s an engineering, statistical thing, that we could say there’s x number of fire hydrants, they’ve all been tested and 29 are the only ones wrong, we have yet to hear that. I would like, maybe someone could answer that.”
Note: Apparently the Fire Department originally tested (operation and water flow) all the fire hydrants on the 4” mains and discovered 29 fire hydrants with insufficient capacity. The fire hydrants on 8” mains and above are being flow tested on a monthly basis. All of the 201 fire hydrants have been tested for operation only.
Roberta Miller, President of the Carmel Resident’s Association:
“The Carmel Residents Association Board has asked previously about the City’s ISO rating. And we hope that you can answer these questions. We know that Carmel’s last ISO evaluation was almost 12 years ago in February 1995. And that it gave the City a Class 4 rating, considered very good. Chief Miller told us at the end of 2005 that the Carmel Fire Department had completed a community outreach program questionnaire, the precursor for a reevaluation a year or two before."
"Our questions are, and there are 3 of them:"
"Has the city been contacted since filling out the community outreach questionnaire for a field survey and reevaluation?"
"If not, when do you expect to be reevaluated by the ISO?"
"Do you anticipate, with the changes in our department, from 12 years ago, that our rating could change for the better or for the worse?"
"Thank you.”
In response, City Administrator Rich Guillen stated, “On the questions related to the fire hydrants and fire issues Chief Miller...better to have him just report back at the next month meeting on all those questions that we were asked tonight.”
Notes: ISO refers to Insurance Services Office, Inc. ISO is a private agency that evaluates communities' firefighting capabilities. Many insurance companies use these ratings to determine the premiums to charge residential and commercial property owners. The classification considers the fire department's capabilities, available water for fire fighting and the ability to quickly and accurately dispatch the closest fire stations.
The classifications are on a scale of 1 to 10 with lower numbers generally meaning lower insurance premiums.
I.S.O. "normally" only reviews communities every 10 to 15 years unless the annual survey information (improvements) they receive merits a review sooner.
For more information, click on the post title above or http://www.iso.com/.
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