WSRB Fire Protection Rating

 The Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB) inspects and evaluates the fire protection capabilities of cities, counties, and municipal fire districts.  

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WSRB evaluates the effort a community has made to provide fire protection services to citizens and property owners. Ratings range from class 1 to 10, with class 1 indicating exemplary fire protection and class 10 representing inadequate or non-existent fire protection and is determined based on four major factors:
 

• Fire Department: including fire stations, apparatus, equipment, personnel and training.
• Water Supply: the capacity, distribution and maintenance of water systems and fire hydrants.
• Emergency Communications: the emergency communication system used to dispatch the fire department.
• Fire Safety Control: the fire code enforcement and fire safety education activities in the community.
   

These class ratings can help the public in the goal of achieving adequate and equitable insurance coverage. Improvements to a WSRB Fire Protection Class Rating may result in lower fire insurance premiums on homes and businesses in the community.

Following a review by the WSRB in early 2022, the District announced the reduction of its Public Protection Classification (PPC) rating from a Class 6 to a Class 5 in the city and from a Class 7 to a Class 6 in the county effective September 29, 2022. While not all insurance companies use the PPC rating, the improvement should result in insurance premium savings for many residential and commercial properties in the fire district. The insurance industry utilizes the assigned PPC rating information in underwriting and pricing homeowner and commercial property insurance.