CED Annexation Policy Plan 1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The South Bend Fire Department will be required to provide fire protection services to annexed territory. These services will need to be provided in a comparable manner as presently provided throughout the City. Fire suppression services undoubtedly will be the primary fire protection concern for property owners and residents in the annexed territory. It should not be overlooked, however, that other fire protection and safety services, including arson investigations, code inspections and public education, will need to be extended to the annexed territory and that these services are important for the overall welfare and benefit of the citizenry. What constitutes comparable fire suppression services? It is obvious that new, fully equipped and staffed fire stations will probably be needed to provide fire suppression services if a major expansion of the corporate limits does occur through annexation. Where such fire stations should be located is linked directly to the specific annexation area and, thus, cannot be identified at this time. The criteria for locating and equipping these future stations, however, can be established by determining what constitutes comparable fire suppression service. The best available tool for determining comparable fire suppression service is the Public Protection Classification that is established by Insurance Services Office (ISO) and used as an element to develop fire insurance rates for individual properties. To be eligible for the ISO rating, a fire department must meet certain basic requirements for organization, firefighters, training, alarm notification and apparatus housing. Eligible fire departments are rated on a relative classification scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the lowest Public Protection Classification. A fire department that does not have at least one piece of apparatus with a pump capacity of 50 gpm at 150 psi, and at least a 300-gallon water reservoir, is automatically rated Class 10. If a fire department satisfies the above minimum pump capacity and water reservoir criteria, additional evaluation is performed for three elements. These three elements and their respective evaluation factors are 1) how fire alarms are received and handled, including telephone service, operators and dispatch circuit factors; 2) fire departments, including engine company, reserve pumper, pump capacity, ladder service, reserve ladder and service truck, distribution, company personnel and company training factors; and, 3) water supply, including supply system, hydrants and inspection and condition of hydrant factors. A wide range of additional criteria ranging from immediate playback devices for emergency calls to the quantity, type and size of ladders for evaluating the rating factors are also used. A fire department that satisfied the minimum pump capacity and water reservoir criteria, but does not meet other basic criteria involving records and equipment, is automatically rated Class 9. Generally, this rating is due to the absence of fire hydrants within 1,000 feet of built-up area. 46