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Fire Chief Joe Mansell said they received word Thursday the department’s Public Protection Classification (PPC), as determined by the Insurance Service Organization (ISO), went from a 4 to a 2.

He said the department needed to score at least an 80 to make it to a 2. Its overall score was 81.64.

“Even though individual homeowners will see savings, the biggest effect will probably be with businesses and industries that have large premiums,” Mansell said.

Firefighter Rhett Bradford said several of the city’s biggest employers said they will see “substantial savings” from the new rating, which shows how well an area is being protected from fire-related disasters.

But some homeowners could benefit as well.

“For example, someone with a $100,000 home could save about $200 a year on their insurance rates because of this new rating,” Bradford said.

Mansell said the new ISO rate will become effective Dec. 1. He said residents and businesses should contact their individual insurance providers to see how it will affect their rates.

“This is a tremendous accomplishment for our city, and something our residents should be able to be proud of,” Mansell said. “Hopefully, this lets them know they are receiving the best fire protection that we can possibly provide.”

Mansell said he has been with Russellville Fire Department for 23 years, and it has never gotten an ISO rating below 4.

Mansell said there are currently only 17 other fire departments in the state with an ISO rating of 2, including Muscle Shoals, which received its new rating several months ago.

“Out of more than 50,000 departments that ISO evaluates nationwide, there are only 917 that have a 2 rating,” Mansell said. “This isn’t an easy accomplishment to achieve.”

Mansell explained the ISO rating is determined by scores from the fire department, Russellville Water and Sewer Board, and Franklin County 911. The fire department’s portion counts for 50 percent of the total score, the water board counts for 40 percent, and the 911/communication portion counts for 10 percent.

“On our end, the people with ISO factor in our training, our fire engines and equipment, our deployment, our personnel and our community risk reduction,” he said. “We scored around 90 percent in almost all these categories, so I couldn’t be prouder of what all our guys did to make sure this rating was as low as we could get it.

“We also received a lot of help from Doug Hatton, who is an instructor at the Alabama Fire College on ISO. Doug lives in Franklin County and was able to really help us with this process.”

From a training perspective, Mansell said they had to document all the training the department completes throughout the year, including search and rescue, air pack usage, firefighting and equipment training.

“We could train all year long, but if we didn’t document it properly, we wouldn’t be able to show ISO what all we do, and how many hours we spend per month on training,” he said. “This is where Rhett has been helpful because he has redone our computer system to make it easier to document this kind of training.”

The deployment category looks at how quickly Russellville Fire Department responds to calls. Mansell said from their call log, ISO was able to determine the department responds to 90 percent of calls in five minutes or less.

The fire engine and equipment category evaluates tools the department has to fight fires and how efficient they are. The department earned all three possible points in this category.

For the community risk reduction category, ISO took into account much of what Fire Marshal Justin Green does through annual business inspections and fire prevention programs, like those at schools.

“All of the guys in our department worked very hard to achieve this rating, and I appreciate each one of them for the role they played in this,” Mansell said.

Franklin County 911 Administrator Brandon James said ISO evaluated its operations to see how effective the communication is between the 911 center and the Fire Department.

“They looked at how quickly our dispatchers are able to take a call and get the department in route to the scene,” James said. “Accurate and timely communication is very important when responding to an emergency situation.”

For the Russellville Water and Sewer Board, Foreman Eric Hill said ISO evaluated its department based on how much water storage it has at the water plant, and how much storage it has in the system, which shows how effectively the department is able to deliver water through one of the 424 hydrants in the city.

“Out of the 424 hydrants we have, they are all 100 percent functional,” Hill said. “We did some re-piping and re-valving ahead of this evaluation to get the flow rates we needed.”

Hill said he and Scott Godsey, who is the GIS coordinator for the water board, also supplied information directly to ISO about the location, make-up and capabilities of the hydrants, which helps ISO in its evaluation.

“Eric, Scott, and our assistant manager, Lee Parker, were instrumental in our department making the necessary adjustments we needed to make in order to score well on our portion of this evaluation,” Water Manager Doug Clement said. “You are only as good as those who work with you, and the high marks we received on our portion of the evaluation were due to everyone working and communicating effectively about what was needed.”

Mayor David Grissom said officials can use the new rating to recruit new business and industry.

“Having such a low ISO rating will be beneficial for companies with high premiums because of the savings they’ll receive,” Grissom said. “That’s definitely a selling point.

“I appreciate everyone who had a hand in achieving this rating. This just shows what can be accomplished when you have multiple departments working together as a team to accomplish something positive for the city,” Grissom said.