Cicero Fire Department receives excellent ISO rating
The Town of Cicero Fire Department has received an ISO (Insurance Services Office) Public Protection Classification rating of 2, which is recognized as one of the nation’s top performance ratings.
Fire Chief Dominick Buscemi said the Cicero Fire Department said the rating classification is a result of the Fire Department’s continued effort to provide the highest possible service to its residents.
Chief Buscemi said the rating is most important for the insurance costs for businesses and the lower rating makes Cicero more appealing to businesses hoping to relocate to the Town of Cicero. Buscemi said, the ISO rating is also important to homeowners.
“We have been working hard to improve the ISO Classification rating and I am proud that we have achieved it. We will continue to strive for a Class 1 Public Protection Classification rating,” Buscemi said.
“I wanted to thank Town President Larry Dominick and the Town of Cicero board to give me the resources we need to get this done. We were able to bring in experienced talent to help bring this together. We were able to recruit a former assistant Cicero Fire Chief, Mike Pikarski, to help us build the department to achieve this rating.”
The ISO evaluation takes everything into consideration not just the fire department and its training, Buscemi explained. The ISO audit evaluates a wide range of factors that include aspects of a community beyond the control of Fire Departments, such as a community’s water system performance, transit patterns, and more.
According to professional firefighting associations, ISO uses the Public Protection Classification (PPCTM) program and conducts periodic audits of fire departments and their communities on a rotating basis across the United States.
Ratings are issued between 1, the best, and 10, the worst. These official ratings are used by insurance companies in determining the costs for insurance premiums. The lower the rating the lower the costs. The higher the rating the higher the costs.
Fire Departments with ISO Ratings of 1 or 2 are considered the best not only in terms of insurance premium costs but also in terms of their ability to fight fires and provide emergency safety response to homeowners and businesses.
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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