Kennewick Fire Department Protection Rating Upgraded

We are pleased to announce that the City of Kennewick was recently notified by the Washington Survey & Rating Bureau (WSRB), after their evaluation of the Kennewick Fire Department, our Protection Class Rating will be going from a 4 rating to 3 effective September 1st.The City is only .15 from obtaining a 2 rating.  There are currently no departments in the state of Washington rated  1, which is the highest rating attainable on the WSRB scale of 10 to 1.  This is rating is great news for our community as an improved rating can reduce insurance rates for businesses and homeowners.

The WSRB is an independent, non-profit public service organization that has been serving the State of Washington since 1911. As a data and information organization, WSRB is an authoritative resource for the property insurance industry. 
One of the services WSRB provides is determining the Protection Class of communities and the Protection Class Ratings of individual properties in those communities. Protection Class Ratings are used by insurance companies to help determine fire insurance premiums for properties. WSRB determines the Protection Class of cities and fire protection districts by evaluating their fire protection/suppression capabilities using a schedule approved by the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner. As a result of this evaluation the communities are assigned a Protection Class of 1 through 10, where 1 indicates exemplary fire protection capabilities, and 10 indicates the capabilities, if any, are insufficient for insurance rating credit. WSRB evaluates communities in four major areas:

• Water Supply
  
• Fire Department – including stations, equipment, training, and personnel.
  
• Emergency Dispatch Communications
  
• Fire Safety Control – code enforcement and fire safety education.

“As the Fire Department works on staffing alignment, equipment, training and community outreach, each and every year, we feel confident our continued efforts will be factored into future WSRB evaluations,” said Fire Chief Vince Beasley.