Measuring Community Risks:

The Value of Assessing Fire-Suppression Capabilities

In this interview, Mike Waters, vice president, ISO Risk Decision Services, discusses the significance of the PPCTM program’s underlying data and the implications for insurance underwriting.

How does the PPC program contribute to insurer underwriting capabilities?

PPC classifications — as delivered in ISO’s LOCATION® solution suite — can serve as a key competitive advantage for insurers. PPC represents the effectiveness of fire protection in a community. Incorporating a wealth of integrated data not available elsewhere, PPC helps insurers in their efforts to assess property policies for potential loss. When insurers use PPC, the classification reflects key detailed variables — sources of water and their viability, automatic-aid agreements, department personnel details, dispatch operations, information on fire district boundaries, and distances to responding fire stations — to achieve more precise underwriting and rating analysis.

What is the benefit of PPC classifications for homeowners and businesses?

The link between effective public fire-mitigation capabilities and lower insured property loss is unquestioned. ISO’s PPC program is based on a partnership between insurers and local governments to help communities plan, budget, and justify investments that improve municipal fire protection. Virtually all U.S. insurers of home and business property use ISO’s PPC program to assess property policies. That’s because statistical data on insurance losses demonstrates the relationship between better fire protection — as measured by the PPC program — and lower fire losses. ISO statistics show that, per $1,000 of insured property, communities with the worst PPC ratings have fire losses two or more times as high as communities with the best PPC ratings.     » Read complete interview