Western Emergency Service Area residents and business owners may see reduction in fire insurance premium costs due to an improved fire class rating. The Insurance Services Office (ISO), a national insurance industry risk rating and assessment service, rates municipalities on a scale of 1 to 10. From an insurance analysis perspective, an ISO Class 10 rating is considered the least effective fire defense while an ISO class 1 rating is the most effective fire defense system. Most fire insurance carriers utilize ISO Class ratings in determining policy rates.
The ISO rating of a community affects the insurance premiums that policyholders pay for fire insurance on commercial and residential buildings. As individual departments, Anchor Point Emergency Services was previously classified as 5/5Y and Ninilchik Emergency Services was previously classified as 8b. The previous rating of 5/5Y meant that all parcels within five road miles of a fire station and 1000 feet of a hydrant received a 5 rating, and those without a hydrant receive a 5Y rating. The 5Y rating is the equivalent of the previous 8b rating in Ninilchik. All properties that are not within five road miles of a station automatically receive a rating of 10.
ISO completed their review of Western Emergency Services and has reclassified the ISO Class rating for the service area to a 5/10 rating. This new rating takes effect November 1, 2022.
The new rating of 5/10 means that all parcels located within five road miles of a fire station will receive a rating of 5 without the additional requirement of having a hydrant within 1000 feet. This is a significant change that affects a total of 3,660 parcels within the service area.
- Ninilchik / Happy Valley – 1,668 parcels within five miles of Station 1 previously rated at an 8b will now receive the 5 rating.
- Anchor Point – 225 parcels were previously within five road miles of Station 3 and also within 1000 feet of a hydrant. The new rating now includes an additional 1,535 parcels.
- Nikolaevsk – 186 parcels were previously within five road miles of Station 4 and also within 1000 feet of a hydrant. The new rating covers an additional 457 parcels.
Western Emergency Services operates 3 stations at the locations listed below:
WES Station 1 – 15727 Kingsley Rd, Ninilchik, AK 99639
WES Station 3 – 72440 Milo Fritz Ave, Anchor Point, AK 99556
WES Station 4 – 65830 Nikolaevsk Rd, Nikolaevsk, AK 99556
Maps identifying the affected parcels can be found here.