The ISO Commercial Risk Services, Inc. regularly performs town grading surveys in all communities and areas which have public fire protection. The Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) is utilized by ISO/CRS, Inc., in the grading survey process.

The Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) is adopted and used in 47 states as an objective analysis of fire suppression features in a municipality, measuring major differences between cities and recognizing the suppression potential of those cities to handle buildings once they are burning. The entire thrust is to quantify, on a relative scale of 1 through 10, the capabilities of a community to control these fires, and thus limit the resulting loss. The FSRS is intended to credit any system, equipment, apparatus or personnel level which is brought to bear on the suppression problem.

Credit is allocated through review and evaluation of three major features — Fire Alarm, Fire Department and Water Supply.

The review of the Fire Alarm system, worth 10% of the total grading, places emphasis on the performance of handling and dispatching fire alarms. The review of the Fire Department, worth 50% of the total grading, concerns itself with the fire department's first alarm response because of the importance of the initial attack to minimize potential loss. Items include the review of existing engine and ladder companies, the distribution of fire stations and apparatus, equipment carried on apparatus, pumping capacity, department manning levels and training. The Water Supply review, worth 40% of the total grading, considers the actual water supply that is available for fire suppression at representative locations throughout the city.

Countrywide, there are over 28,000 graded communities by ISO/CRS, Inc., of which only fourteen are Class 1. They are Baton Rouge, LA, Santa Ana, CA, Stockton, CA, Macon, GA, Pensacola, FL, Hialeah, FL, Springfield, IL, Anaheim, CA, Beverly Hills, CA, Las Vegas, NE, Vernon, CA, Oak Lawn, IL, Arcadia, CA and Lisle-Woodridge Fire District, IL. There are approximately 70 Class 2 areas countrywide.

In Illinois, there are 1,500 graded areas, of which only three are Class 1 — Springfield, Oak Lawn and the Lisle-Woodridge Fire District. There are twelve Class 2 cities and graded areas — Chicago, Broadview, Champaign, Skokie, Mount Prospect, Rockford, Oak Park, Elmhurst, Buffalo Grove, Libertyville, Naperville and the Orland Fire District.

Page 12 / Illinois Municipal Review / January 1994