ISO Wants To Meet With City Officals|ABC News 4

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ISO Wants To Meet With City Officals

posted 9:40 pm Mon August 27, 2007 - Charleston, SC

tags: iso rating • city of charleston • charleston fire department • sofa superstore fire

City of Charleston Officials continue to tout its Fire Department's class one rating, when questioned about the blaze that claimed nine of their own. But, the agency that awarded that rating may take a closer look. The Insurance Services Office, also known as the ISO, has requested a meeting with City officials, which could mean changes for the department.

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ISO Rating, Will Charleston's Hold?

Charleston carries a class one rating. It's the highest awarded. One week after the fire we contacted the ISO and questioned if the outcome of the blaze could lead to a different rating. ISO officials said they'd await formal results of the investigations being conducted. Those results haven't been released, but we've learned ISO is already asking to meet with the City.

Chief Rusty Thomas has defended his Department and his tactics since the day of the deadliest fire fighter tragedy since 9/11. Both he and the Mayor continue to point to the Department's Class One rating, as Mayor Riley did on the air with us August 24th. "Our Fire Department is class one rated. One of 38 in the entire Country. Safety of our firefighters is always number one," said City of Charleston Mayor Joe Riley.

What Riley doesn't say is the focus of ISO's ratings aren't firefighter safety. They aren't tactics either. Instead, ISO measures and evaluates three major elements of a community's fire suppression system. The fire department itself, the means to notify the department of structural alarms and water supply. Just days after the sofa superstore blaze, we asked Thomas if he thought the fire would affect the City's rating.

"That fire will have nothing to do with our ISO rating," said Chief Thomas.

That may not be true. The City isn't due for another routine review until next year, but ISO officials tell us they have a pending meeting request with City. Some outside the department are questioning the review process all together and whether or not the evaluation really sees what goes on day to day. "If they don't come in and look at the numbers of who's on duty each day and know exactly the number, then they're not getting an accurate picture of what's taking place when they have a fire," says Ronnie Steele, a trained fire professional with more than 20 years experience.

Steele suggests if ISO did surprise checks, it would have a better idea of how the Department functions. He says based on how it operated the night of the Sofa Super Store fire, it'd be lucky to have a rating of a four or a five.

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