How to improve your department ISO rating


How to improve your department ISO rating... by Chief Michael Cottrell Chapter 2: ISO is coming
The First Bumpy Cross Road ! Adjusting our Management “mindset” and a Thought towards Leadership. You know what really irritates me? When individuals hide behind the mask of “Volunteers Firefighters” in the fire and rescue world. They are supposed to be involved in the service to provide emergency support for our community and its residents. Generally speaking, that is exactly what you will find. However, too many times you will find just the opposite. Now, what happens if this individual that maintains a private personal agenda just happens to be the Chief? This scenario is disastrous for the organization and to the community. Is the Chief Officer truly involved with the service to address the public needs? Or are they involved only to carry the name and title in the eyes of the community? Maybe they do not hold the “right stuff” to effectively navigate the organization for the best interest of the community in “today’s standards”. Let’s face it; things have changed in today’s society. If an individual holds the responsible position such as a Fire Chief, they should be committed to do everything possible to enhance the service of what their department offers to the community. I have heard many of these Chiefs say, “We don’t need to improve our rating”. I had one Chief located in Ohio tell me, “When the whistle blows, we show up and eventually get the fire put out”. I asked the Chief, “Seriously, if you could improve your department at no cost, would you entertain the idea?” The answer astounded me, “NO, I’m not interested, we are volunteers and it is too much paper work.” Number one red flag, the “I” statement. “I am not interested”. Not even willing to consider the dedicated firefighters or the community’s best interest. What is disheartening, he has been the Chief for over 20 years. He has a young staff of energetic firefighters. After discussing the improvement topic with them, they were anxious to start. BUT, the firefighters warned me, the Chief would shut down the wild and crazy idea of making the department better. Why? The firefighters told me, for them to improve they would have to change the ways of the “Chiefs personal department”. You know what? Unfortunately, they were 100% right. The Chief shot the idea of improving things down in less than ten minutes. Why would I open an editorial section with these types of statements? One of the very first “Cross Roads” that you may have to overtake is convincing the boss that you need to get with the program. It is sad because I have come across Chiefs that have held the position for many years, sometimes several decades. Unfortunately, some Chiefs are placed into the top position by the good ol’e buddy system. These are the ones that rub enough elbows and pull enough private favors that they get the nomination. Before you know it, they are “trying to run” the organization. It is almost if we have the case of the “Hero Mentality”, or an individual on the hunt of “Glory and Fame”. Both are costly, both are cases of a terminal disease. The truth be known, the true fame goes to any volunteer or paid firefighter, whether you are a firefighter or a top ranking chief officer. These are the real hero’s, the ones that committed to serve and they do their job. You don’t see them free lancing, but you will see them answering the call day or night. Either way when you have the Chief Officer involved in the personal glory hunt, you can usually see the organization take the inevitable tail spin over time. What use to be acceptable in the fire service is not necessary the same standard that the fire service is being held to today. Better yet, you can find the false sense of security of telling themselves of how good they are. In actuality, they are struggling to only survive. Times have changed, the expectations are higher, and we must perform to the new standards. Departments must now perform not only in actual firefighting (the easy stuff), but in the critical “business arena” as well. How does the fire department fall into the business arena? What other organization in your city or community holds the key that can save your residents and business owners thousands, hundred of thousands or millions of dollars? You will be hard pressed to find any organization that can come close to being able to offer something similar to the community. The morale of the opening story here is simple. Times have changed, let’s get into the game and do the right thing. We are in this service to help or fellow residents and to provide the best possible service. You will find, if you complete the revamping task of improving your ISO rating, your department “efficiency” will dramatically improve as well. They are related to each other and both will and can drive each other. The name of the game for the fire service is preservation of life and property If you have a department that has the desire and want to improve, then make it happen! Don’t let the negative inputs hold you and your comrades back. Just because they couldn’t, does not mean you can’t.If you’re involved with a department and have the desire to make improvements, then let’s do it! ISO™ is coming to town! We just received notification; ISO is coming to town here next month! What should we do? First of all, don’t panic! So you have been notified and you know that they are coming in to audit your department. No problem, of course you have been doing your homework meaning, you have been keeping your records up to date, all of your training is just exceptional, and all of your pump and hose test records are up to date. And all of these records go back, say three years. You should be in pretty good shape. Oh! YOU think your may have a couple of “little problems”. Problems like, we are missing some training records, and what pump and hose test? Are we supposed to be doing that? What ladder test? We have never heard of that non-destructive ladder test thing. First of all, if you know that you are no way near being ready, then yes we do have a few “possible” issues to work through. It is possible to get the audit “delayed” short term. Provided we file the appropriate paper work and request a delay. Now all of this has to be justified so let’s make sure we have our ducks in a row. To be a little cautious here, even if you ask for a delay it does not guarantee ISO will grant it. However if you are in bad shape, we have to try to buy some time and get things fixed. Otherwise, the results could haunt you and your residents for years to come. Many departments have no recollection of what occurred on the last ISO audit. Let’s face it, look at the national numbers kept by the N.F.P.A. Our average service life of a volunteer is around three to four years, for what ever reason they leave our ranks. It is no hidden fact; turn-over in the volunteer service runs high. Even in the paid ranks with the combination of the newly elected officials, fire chiefs moving around, you can still end up with the possibility of a new Chief and possibly a new Mayor with a Council that has no experience of an ISO audit. Remember the typical community only goes through an ISO audit once every 15 years. You can bet that the majority of the key players have moved around or out of the picture since the last audit. I have found from past experience that you will find one of three situations with departments regarding their status of being prepared for the ISO audit. First; the department will have all of the basics in line, even the water side will have most of their stuff together. All we have to do is clean up a few odds and ends and we are off and running. Second; the department has had a slight idea of what is going to be looked at. They have touched base with the water department, not getting real in depth but both sides have an idea of what is going to occur. This situation we can address in a short time period, however depending on what we are missing or behind in, it may take a little longer to gather the required data. Third; unfortunately this is the one that we find more often than not. We walk into the department and set down at the meeting table. Pull out our little trusty pre-audit questionnaires and start through the questions. As always, the department can usually answer them verbally. Now for the hard part, and this is where everyone gets caught. You can answer the questions by a “Yes” or what ever the proper answer may be. However, can the department provide documentation and records of what you have just answered? Nine times out of ten, we cannot provide that documentation. Thank goodness, it is just “us” doing a pre-audit review! What would have happened, if this was the real ISO Auditor? You can bet they would have a field day with you! As a footnote here, I can tell you from my early years as the auditors complete their tours and check your inventories, sometimes they will nod their head and make little notes on the clipboard or notepad (if they have it with them) Sometimes they don’t make any notes at all. IF you see this happening, you should stop the audit and ask them about it. IF they are not taking notes, how will they remember what to credit you on? If they answer that they will remember, I would be very cautious! Things will be missed; if things are missed chances are you will not receive credit for it, which of course impacts your final score. That negative impact will follow your community. Let’s concentrate on the worst-case scenario. This way you can prepare for the worse, if you have any of the items already started, then you are one step ahead. If you have absolutely no records to start from, you can count on spending 2 ½ to 3 years pulling it all together. Why that long? Your maintenance and testing records have to go back that far for full credit. On the water side it will take your water department time to budget money for upgrades and then have the construction completed. Let’s look at an option here regarding the water supply side. Look at the cost analysis and time saving opportunity by having the fire department assist with the water supply. Let’s think “outside of the box” here for a minute, which of the following examples is cheaper? Have the water department install 4000 feet of new water main with hydrants which takes time to engineer, purchase the material and complete the actual installation. Or have the water department and community purchase the fire department 4000 feet of 5” LDH and let you practice laying the big line? You will not need a master degree in mathematics to figure out the cost savings. And better yet with a little thought process, you now realize the following. If the water department would help us purchase or purchase all of the hose for that 4000 foot area, then we can utilize the same hose in different areas of the fire district that has the same problem of “no water supply”. One purchase of LDH hose will help cover the complete fire district! Let’s get back to the audit problem. Sure, you can prepare for an audit with less time; however you may be penalized on your score. You can actually have the situation where it would be advantageous to go ahead and complete the audit, then one or two years down the road; request a new audit so you can obtain credit for your corrections and new additions. A word of caution, as it sounds easy to do which it is. I still need to warn you, it is a lot of work for the organization to complete two audits back to back. Sometimes it is in the best interest for the community and for the department to do just that. The good news is, you have a couple of options to look at and figure out what is best for your community and your department. The main objective to remember here, it is usually the fire department that controls the date and time for the community ISO audit. It is imperative to have the Water and Communication organizations on board with you and more importantly, have all three of you on the same page. If they are not, they can cost you and your community dearly with penalty points. What would be the important message of this section? It is plain and simple; the fire department must have a Master Plan and Game Book! It has to be a game plan that covers your fire department responsibilities and one that covers any deficiency in the water supply side. We will cover with you on how to set up the Master Plan and Game Book in the net chapter. Lets Get Started ! So the good news is, we have some time to get our act together. What do we do first? The first step is to get a copy of the following documents from the ISO™ Office. You may do this by using the regular mail, by fax or by email. I have found that by fax is about the quickest. On one of your department letterheads, place in writing the request to receive a copy of the following documents: 1). Copy of your last Classification Details and Score 2). Copy of your Batch Report for the community 3). Copy of your Hydrant Flow Summary 4). Copy of your Improvement Statement’s 5). For your rural area, ask for a copy of Supplemental Criteria Dwelling 8 6). Optional request – You can request a list of the pre-audit questions to be sent to you, or if you have access to the internet you can log onto the ISO Mitigation Web Page at: ( http://www.isomitigation.com/ppc/5000/ppc5011.html ) and Download the pre-audit questions yourself. Your ISO Office contact information for West Virginia; Ohio; Pennsylvania; Maryland; Virginia; and Kentucky is: ISO Community Hazard Mitigation Division 4B Eves Drive, Suite 100 Marlton, NJ 08053-3112 Telephone: 1-800-444-4554, select option 2 E-mail: iso_east@iso.com This letter of request will need to be signed at the bottom by your Chief or a Chief Line Officers with all of the appropriate contact information, such as mailing address, phone numbers, station phone number, email address etc. Typically it will take a few weeks for the information to arrive, once it does, make copies of all the documents that they send you and keep the originals safe in a file for future use. It is best to work from copies at this point. The Classification Details and Score will be several pages of information listing the different modules and a score posted out to the right. This information will be listed in a “overview type statement”. The important information is the score of each of the four categories that you were graded against. On the back page or so, you will find a sheet that has all of the scores listed in a column with your final score and ISO grade listed near the bottom. This document provides you the “overall” information of how you scored in each of the four categories. (Refer to my first column, Fire Department 50%, Water Department 40% and Communications 10% and Divergence) The Batch Report; You will have a business name listed on the left hand side, then going across, you will see numerous codes and abbreviations. On the right hand side you will find a flow rate listed. This flow rate that is listed needs to be field checked by your firefighters and Officers. Why? Typically the auditors will only do a “drive by” of the structure while in their vehicle. They can and sometimes will ESTIMATE the building size, construction type and it contents. You can at times, reduce your required fire flow on some of these listings. By completing your own pre-plans and “actually measure the structure”, use the correct type of building materials code you will find that the actual fire flow required may be less than what is being listed. This is an area you can challenge, and you should do it for the benefit of your community. When ISO comes to town, make sure you are present with the auditor when they go around your fire district. Many times I have met up with the auditor at the station for an ISO Review, only to have them to say, “On the way into town, I drove by the listings, we do not need to go out and look at them.” Insist that you go to the field and review each one, and compare your pre-plans against the ISO field notes. Your pre-plans should show the actual measurements and fire load of each business location in your fire district. In addition to that basic information, you will need to provide the water supply points and written procedures for water movement that will be utilized for each location. When you find discrepancies, make sure the ISO representative changes his records to the correct figures. One little piece of advice before we return to the fire load rating. As you are completing your pre-plans, and you are working off of the Batch Report addressing those buildings first, keep an eye open for any of the structures that have automatic sprinklers installed in them. Why is that important? It’s the ISO own rules, if a building has an automatic sprinkler system installed, it CAN NOT be included in the audit! This is ISO’s own rule. Any structure with an automatic sprinkler is exempt from the ISO audit! Do you think any of the structures listed on the Batch Report have had sprinklers added since they were first looked at 20-30 years ago? You may be able to locate one or two, if you find one, then point it out to the field auditor and get it removed from the Batch Report. Back to the fire flow listed in the report. Typically this number will be from 500gpm up to 3500gpm. This flow rate is the amount of water that has been established by a calculation from the ISO Office. That flow rate is what they are holding your department accountable for, you will be required to supply this flow rate to put out a fire at this location. Another major issue, make sure that all of these structures that ISO has listed on your Batch report, are actually located in your fire district! I can’t tell you how times I have found buildings and structures from the adjacent fire district being listed on the report. Point out the error and get the business removed from your list! Here is another important piece of information for you to digest. We will “cross-reference” this business location listed on the Batch Report with the required fire flow against the Hydrant Flow Summary. This is a critical section, because 90% of the time this is where you get “penalized” for not having a sufficient amount of water available for the named structure on the report. Protect yourself going forward! Each of these locations on the Batch Report and Hydrant Flow Summary do not change much from one audit to the next. Take the hint! ISO basically knows what they are going to look at before they arrive in your area. That specific information on the Batch Report very rarely changes. Now let’s say your area has been very fortunate and your fire district has undergone some significant economic development. Items such as new shopping malls, multi-story duplex’s, or an area developed that is a high profile such as a corner intersection of two main highways that used to be a pasture. In the last 10 years it has been developed into three separate gas stations, numerous commercial outlets and a fast food establishment or two. This new area did not exist in the last audit; buildings in this area may very well get added to the batch report. You will need to have your “pre-plans” and your “fire flow” calculated for these new establishments. Be prepared for ISO to add some of these new locations to your Batch Report and Hydrant Flow Summary. Remember, to start out with your ISO improvement, you must first study every structure listed on the Batch Report. By studying and verifying, I mean you have reviewed each structure on the report; you have physically measured it and calculated your sq/ft, completed your pre-plans and have calculated your own fire flow. Now you have taken that information and actually demonstrated your own fire flow that must be completed by field testing the hydrants. Hey, let’s talk about another “Hidden Gigg” that they will get you on listed in the Hydrant Flow Summary. The previous paragraph I said, “Take the Hint!”, here is why. The Hydrant Flow Summary is probably one of your more important documents to work with. This document lays the ground work for you to determine if you will need to incorporate a Rural Water Grade or not. IF you will look very close at your Hydrant Flow Summary, you will see that there is a relationship between the hydrants that they are testing verses the buildings listed on the Batch Report. Guess what? The hydrants on the Hydrant Flow Summary are pretty much constant from audit to audit. They do not change much at all, unless as described above you have undergone some development, or in the case your water department has completed some water improvement projects. This will cause the auditor to re-evaluate the water system all together. Many times with the improvements this will actually help you. Here is the major key to the Batch Report and the Hydrant Flow Summary. You will notice, “Typically” ISO will have one hydrant listed for a major structure, and that one hydrant will be listed on the Hydrant Flow Summary for which the auditor completes a field flow test checking the volume of water that is available. Do you see where I’m going here? We are pretty sharp line officers and firefighters, IF we were to have a fire at one of these major structures, you would typically pull a supply line from more than one hydrant correct? This is one of the areas that ISO will not volunteer that information to you as an option. If you look at your Hydrant Flow Summary you will see where quite a few of the hydrants that are listed to be checked, many are marked as insufficient in the ability to supply the correct fire flow for the corresponding structure on the Batch Report. Consequently you will be penalized points for that location. ISO will not volunteer to you the option to supplement your water supply to that fire flow location either, meaning you can tap another hydrant, or supplement the fire flow with tanker support. You mean to tell me that is allowed! Sure it is! Now to get full credit, the attack plan has be in writing in your pre-plans and documentation of were you practiced it. While you are practicing, calculate your flows! Make sure you have met the criteria of the fire flow, if you are short, grab another hydrant or add another tanker shuttle, do what you have to do to obtain the required water flow. And remember, tankers have no time limit on response time. That means you can pull a tanker in to assist you by your automatic aid from a department far away if needed! Photos and video’s attached to your training report work great for these records. Worst case, the auditor will have you demonstrate so he may verify that you have satisfied the flow requirement. What we have now is, instead of utilizing one hydrant and you getting penalized, you will now be pulling from possibly three hydrants and running a five tanker shuttle. (this is only an example). What a difference that will make! Especially in the rural areas water supply is going to be your obstacle. Remember this tactic when we start talking about your rural needs. But don’t panic! The water is relatively the easy one IF you back up and re-think the whole equation and realize what you are allowed to do. As we talk about the Hydrant Flow Summary, I need to caution you on something. Depending on how your water systems are constructed, meaning is the area we are talking about on a dead end leg? Or is it a closed loop on the complete system? Once you start flowing your first hydrant, get a stable discharge reading with a pitot gauge and see what you have. Second step, pick a second hydrant nearby and flow it at the same time of the first. (This is critical; they must be flowing at the same time) Again take readings on the first and second hydrant. Add the two together and see what the total sums of gallons are. If you have satisfied your fire flow then document that those two hydrants will be tapped with LDH supply lines during a real fire. If you are still short try a third and fourth hydrant in the area. You must take reading all of the hydrants while they are flowing simultaneously. Somewhere along this process you will see where the main water line has maximized its total flow. This will be represented by a decrease flow across all of the hydrants together. Watch your residual pressure as well. ISO will only allow you to utilize a hydrant if the residual pressure stays at or above 20psi. Oh yeh,…here is a little thing they don’t tell you. IF your hydrant “residual pressure” does drop below 20psi, you are permitted to add a relay pumper on that hydrant to boost the supply line pressure and flow. Now you have a new set of rules of engagement. Number one, this booster pumper can be from another department, something to think about. And better yet, the minimum 20psi of residual pressure is no longer a barrier. You can now drop down to 0psi residual pressure on the hydrant. That is a very big key! Think about that possibility on the next evolution when you are practicing your fire flows. If you need it, then use it! It is straight from their rule book. I invite you to send me your questions. Feel free to contact me via email at: ISOFireChief@yahoo.com Till the next column, The ISOFireChief About the author: Michael A. Cottrell, Fire Chief for General Motors Corporation, has over 22 years of Fire and Rescue service ranging from Volunteer to Paid from W.Va. to South Carolina, Nebraska and Ohio. In addition to residential fire protection the author has a solid background on high hazard industrial and manufacturing fire protection. More than 16 years experience as a Fire Chief or Chief Line Officer. Training and specialties include; Certified Fire/Rescue Instructor, high angle rescue, confined space rescue, Arson Investigation and former EMT and Medical 1st Responder The author is the owner of I.F.I. (ISO Fire Improvement Consultants) Specializing in professional community fire protection, ISO pre-audits, master planning, analysis of your fire district planning, apparatus design and assisting with your actual ISO community audit. The author is available for private consultation for your department. If you are interested in obtaining additional consultation on a rapid pace, please contact the author at ISOFirechief@yahoo.com

How to improve your department ISO rating...
by Chief Michael Cottrell
Chapter 2: ISO is coming

The First Bumpy Cross Road !

Adjusting our Management “mindset” and a Thought towards Leadership.

You know what really irritates me? When individuals hide behind the mask of “Volunteers Firefighters” in the fire and rescue world. They are supposed to be involved in the service to provide emergency support for our community and its residents. Generally speaking, that is exactly what you will find. However, too many times you will find just the opposite.

Now, what happens if this individual that maintains a private personal agenda just happens to be the Chief? This scenario is disastrous for the organization and to the community. Is the Chief Officer truly involved with the service to address the public needs? Or are they involved only to carry the name and title in the eyes of the community? Maybe they do not hold the “right stuff” to effectively navigate the organization for the best interest of the community in “today’s standards”. Let’s face it; things have changed in today’s society. If an individual holds the responsible position such as a Fire Chief, they should be committed to do everything possible to enhance the service of what their department offers to the community.

I have heard many of these Chiefs say, “We don’t need to improve our rating”. I had one Chief located in Ohio tell me, “When the whistle blows, we show up and eventually get the fire put out”. I asked the Chief, “Seriously, if you could improve your department at no cost, would you entertain the idea?” The answer astounded me, “NO, I’m not interested, we are volunteers and it is too much paper work.” Number one red flag, the “I” statement. “I am not interested”. Not even willing to consider the dedicated firefighters or the community’s best interest. What is disheartening, he has been the Chief for over 20 years. He has a young staff of energetic firefighters. After discussing the improvement topic with them, they were anxious to start. BUT, the firefighters warned me, the Chief would shut down the wild and crazy idea of making the department better. Why? The firefighters told me, for them to improve they would have to change the ways of the “Chiefs personal department”. You know what? Unfortunately, they were 100% right. The Chief shot the idea of improving things down in less than ten minutes.

Why would I open an editorial section with these types of statements? One of the very first “Cross Roads” that you may have to overtake is convincing the boss that you need to get with the program. It is sad because I have come across Chiefs that have held the position for many years, sometimes several decades. Unfortunately, some Chiefs are placed into the top position by the good ol’e buddy system. These are the ones that rub enough elbows and pull enough private favors that they get the nomination. Before you know it, they are “trying to run” the organization.

It is almost if we have the case of the “Hero Mentality”, or an individual on the hunt of “Glory and Fame”. Both are costly, both are cases of a terminal disease. The truth be known, the true fame goes to any volunteer or paid firefighter, whether you are a firefighter or a top ranking chief officer. These are the real hero’s, the ones that committed to serve and they do their job. You don’t see them free lancing, but you will see them answering the call day or night.

Either way when you have the Chief Officer involved in the personal glory hunt, you can usually see the organization take the inevitable tail spin over time. What use to be acceptable in the fire service is not necessary the same standard that the fire service is being held to today. Better yet, you can find the false sense of security of telling themselves of how good they are. In actuality, they are struggling to only survive. Times have changed, the expectations are higher, and we must perform to the new standards. Departments must now perform not only in actual firefighting (the easy stuff), but in the critical “business arena” as well. How does the fire department fall into the business arena? What other organization in your city or community holds the key that can save your residents and business owners thousands, hundred of thousands or millions of dollars? You will be hard pressed to find any organization that can come close to being able to offer something similar to the community.

The morale of the opening story here is simple. Times have changed, let’s get into the game and do the right thing. We are in this service to help or fellow residents and to provide the best possible service. You will find, if you complete the revamping task of improving your ISO rating, your department “efficiency” will dramatically improve as well. They are related to each other and both will and can drive each other. The name of the game for the fire service is preservation of life and property

If you have a department that has the desire and want to improve, then make it happen! Don’t let the negative inputs hold you and your comrades back. Just because they couldn’t, does not mean you can’t.If you’re involved with a department and have the desire to make improvements, then let’s do it!

ISO™ is coming to town!

We just received notification; ISO is coming to town here next month! What should we do? First of all, don’t panic! So you have been notified and you know that they are coming in to audit your department. No problem, of course you have been doing your homework meaning, you have been keeping your records up to date, all of your training is just exceptional, and all of your pump and hose test records are up to date. And all of these records go back, say three years. You should be in pretty good shape. Oh! YOU think your may have a couple of “little problems”. Problems like, we are missing some training records, and what pump and hose test? Are we supposed to be doing that? What ladder test? We have never heard of that non-destructive ladder test thing.

First of all, if you know that you are no way near being ready, then yes we do have a few “possible” issues to work through. It is possible to get the audit “delayed” short term. Provided we file the appropriate paper work and request a delay. Now all of this has to be justified so let’s make sure we have our ducks in a row. To be a little cautious here, even if you ask for a delay it does not guarantee ISO will grant it. However if you are in bad shape, we have to try to buy some time and get things fixed. Otherwise, the results could haunt you and your residents for years to come.

Many departments have no recollection of what occurred on the last ISO audit. Let’s face it, look at the national numbers kept by the N.F.P.A. Our average service life of a volunteer is around three to four years, for what ever reason they leave our ranks. It is no hidden fact; turn-over in the volunteer service runs high. Even in the paid ranks with the combination of the newly elected officials, fire chiefs moving around, you can still end up with the possibility of a new Chief and possibly a new Mayor with a Council that has no experience of an ISO audit. Remember the typical community only goes through an ISO audit once every 15 years. You can bet that the majority of the key players have moved around or out of the picture since the last audit.

I have found from past experience that you will find one of three situations with departments regarding their status of being prepared for the ISO audit.

First; the department will have all of the basics in line, even the water side will have most of their stuff together. All we have to do is clean up a few odds and ends and we are off and running.

Second; the department has had a slight idea of what is going to be looked at. They have touched base with the water department, not getting real in depth but both sides have an idea of what is going to occur. This situation we can address in a short time period, however depending on what we are missing or behind in, it may take a little longer to gather the required data.

Third; unfortunately this is the one that we find more often than not. We walk into the department and set down at the meeting table. Pull out our little trusty pre-audit questionnaires and start through the questions. As always, the department can usually answer them verbally. Now for the hard part, and this is where everyone gets caught. You can answer the questions by a “Yes” or what ever the proper answer may be. However, can the department provide documentation and records of what you have just answered? Nine times out of ten, we cannot provide that documentation. Thank goodness, it is just “us” doing a pre-audit review! What would have happened, if this was the real ISO Auditor? You can bet they would have a field day with you!

As a footnote here, I can tell you from my early years as the auditors complete their tours and check your inventories, sometimes they will nod their head and make little notes on the clipboard or notepad (if they have it with them) Sometimes they don’t make any notes at all. IF you see this happening, you should stop the audit and ask them about it. IF they are not taking notes, how will they remember what to credit you on? If they answer that they will remember, I would be very cautious! Things will be missed; if things are missed chances are you will not receive credit for it, which of course impacts your final score. That negative impact will follow your community.

Let’s concentrate on the worst-case scenario. This way you can prepare for the worse, if you have any of the items already started, then you are one step ahead. If you have absolutely no records to start from, you can count on spending 2 ½ to 3 years pulling it all together. Why that long? Your maintenance and testing records have to go back that far for full credit. On the water side it will take your water department time to budget money for upgrades and then have the construction completed. Let’s look at an option here regarding the water supply side. Look at the cost analysis and time saving opportunity by having the fire department assist with the water supply.

Let’s think “outside of the box” here for a minute, which of the following examples is cheaper? Have the water department install 4000 feet of new water main with hydrants which takes time to engineer, purchase the material and complete the actual installation. Or have the water department and community purchase the fire department 4000 feet of 5” LDH and let you practice laying the big line? You will not need a master degree in mathematics to figure out the cost savings. And better yet with a little thought process, you now realize the following. If the water department would help us purchase or purchase all of the hose for that 4000 foot area, then we can utilize the same hose in different areas of the fire district that has the same problem of “no water supply”. One purchase of LDH hose will help cover the complete fire district!

Let’s get back to the audit problem. Sure, you can prepare for an audit with less time; however you may be penalized on your score. You can actually have the situation where it would be advantageous to go ahead and complete the audit, then one or two years down the road; request a new audit so you can obtain credit for your corrections and new additions. A word of caution, as it sounds easy to do which it is. I still need to warn you, it is a lot of work for the organization to complete two audits back to back. Sometimes it is in the best interest for the community and for the department to do just that.

The good news is, you have a couple of options to look at and figure out what is best for your community and your department. The main objective to remember here, it is usually the fire department that controls the date and time for the community ISO audit. It is imperative to have the Water and Communication organizations on board with you and more importantly, have all three of you on the same page. If they are not, they can cost you and your community dearly with penalty points.

What would be the important message of this section? It is plain and simple; the fire department must have a Master Plan and Game Book! It has to be a game plan that covers your fire department responsibilities and one that covers any deficiency in the water supply side. We will cover with you on how to set up the Master Plan and Game Book in the net chapter.

Lets Get Started !

So the good news is, we have some time to get our act together. What do we do first?

The first step is to get a copy of the following documents from the ISO™ Office. You may do this by using the regular mail, by fax or by email. I have found that by fax is about the quickest.

On one of your department letterheads, place in writing the request to receive a copy of the following documents:

1). Copy of your last Classification Details and Score

2). Copy of your Batch Report for the community

3). Copy of your Hydrant Flow Summary

4). Copy of your Improvement Statement’s

5). For your rural area, ask for a copy of Supplemental Criteria Dwelling 8

6). Optional request – You can request a list of the pre-audit questions to be sent to you, or if you have access to the internet you can log onto the ISO Mitigation Web Page at: ( http://www.isomitigation.com/ppc/5000/ppc5011.html ) and Download the pre-audit questions yourself.

Your ISO Office contact information for West Virginia; Ohio; Pennsylvania; Maryland; Virginia; and Kentucky is:

ISO
Community Hazard Mitigation Division
4B Eves Drive, Suite 100
Marlton, NJ 08053-3112
Telephone: 1-800-444-4554, select option 2
E-mail: iso_east@iso.com

This letter of request will need to be signed at the bottom by your Chief or a Chief Line Officers with all of the appropriate contact information, such as mailing address, phone numbers, station phone number, email address etc. Typically it will take a few weeks for the information to arrive, once it does, make copies of all the documents that they send you and keep the originals safe in a file for future use. It is best to work from copies at this point.

The Classification Details and Score will be several pages of information listing the different modules and a score posted out to the right. This information will be listed in a “overview type statement”. The important information is the score of each of the four categories that you were graded against. On the back page or so, you will find a sheet that has all of the scores listed in a column with your final score and ISO grade listed near the bottom. This document provides you the “overall” information of how you scored in each of the four categories. (Refer to my first column, Fire Department 50%, Water Department 40% and Communications 10% and Divergence)

The Batch Report; You will have a business name listed on the left hand side, then going across, you will see numerous codes and abbreviations. On the right hand side you will find a flow rate listed. This flow rate that is listed needs to be field checked by your firefighters and Officers. Why? Typically the auditors will only do a “drive by” of the structure while in their vehicle. They can and sometimes will ESTIMATE the building size, construction type and it contents. You can at times, reduce your required fire flow on some of these listings. By completing your own pre-plans and “actually measure the structure”, use the correct type of building materials code you will find that the actual fire flow required may be less than what is being listed. This is an area you can challenge, and you should do it for the benefit of your community. When ISO comes to town, make sure you are present with the auditor when they go around your fire district. Many times I have met up with the auditor at the station for an ISO Review, only to have them to say, “On the way into town, I drove by the listings, we do not need to go out and look at them.” Insist that you go to the field and review each one, and compare your pre-plans against the ISO field notes. Your pre-plans should show the actual measurements and fire load of each business location in your fire district. In addition to that basic information, you will need to provide the water supply points and written procedures for water movement that will be utilized for each location. When you find discrepancies, make sure the ISO representative changes his records to the correct figures.

One little piece of advice before we return to the fire load rating. As you are completing your pre-plans, and you are working off of the Batch Report addressing those buildings first, keep an eye open for any of the structures that have automatic sprinklers installed in them. Why is that important? It’s the ISO own rules, if a building has an automatic sprinkler system installed, it CAN NOT be included in the audit! This is ISO’s own rule. Any structure with an automatic sprinkler is exempt from the ISO audit! Do you think any of the structures listed on the Batch Report have had sprinklers added since they were first looked at 20-30 years ago? You may be able to locate one or two, if you find one, then point it out to the field auditor and get it removed from the Batch Report.

Back to the fire flow listed in the report. Typically this number will be from 500gpm up to 3500gpm. This flow rate is the amount of water that has been established by a calculation from the ISO Office. That flow rate is what they are holding your department accountable for, you will be required to supply this flow rate to put out a fire at this location. Another major issue, make sure that all of these structures that ISO has listed on your Batch report, are actually located in your fire district! I can’t tell you how times I have found buildings and structures from the adjacent fire district being listed on the report. Point out the error and get the business removed from your list!

Here is another important piece of information for you to digest. We will “cross-reference” this business location listed on the Batch Report with the required fire flow against the Hydrant Flow Summary. This is a critical section, because 90% of the time this is where you get “penalized” for not having a sufficient amount of water available for the named structure on the report. Protect yourself going forward! Each of these locations on the Batch Report and Hydrant Flow Summary do not change much from one audit to the next. Take the hint!

ISO basically knows what they are going to look at before they arrive in your area. That specific information on the Batch Report very rarely changes. Now let’s say your area has been very fortunate and your fire district has undergone some significant economic development. Items such as new shopping malls, multi-story duplex’s, or an area developed that is a high profile such as a corner intersection of two main highways that used to be a pasture. In the last 10 years it has been developed into three separate gas stations, numerous commercial outlets and a fast food establishment or two. This new area did not exist in the last audit; buildings in this area may very well get added to the batch report. You will need to have your “pre-plans” and your “fire flow” calculated for these new establishments. Be prepared for ISO to add some of these new locations to your Batch Report and Hydrant Flow Summary. Remember, to start out with your ISO improvement, you must first study every structure listed on the Batch Report. By studying and verifying, I mean you have reviewed each structure on the report; you have physically measured it and calculated your sq/ft, completed your pre-plans and have calculated your own fire flow. Now you have taken that information and actually demonstrated your own fire flow that must be completed by field testing the hydrants. Hey, let’s talk about another “Hidden Gigg” that they will get you on listed in the Hydrant Flow Summary. The previous paragraph I said, “Take the Hint!”, here is why.

The Hydrant Flow Summary is probably one of your more important documents to work with. This document lays the ground work for you to determine if you will need to incorporate a Rural Water Grade or not.

IF you will look very close at your Hydrant Flow Summary, you will see that there is a relationship between the hydrants that they are testing verses the buildings listed on the Batch Report. Guess what? The hydrants on the Hydrant Flow Summary are pretty much constant from audit to audit. They do not change much at all, unless as described above you have undergone some development, or in the case your water department has completed some water improvement projects. This will cause the auditor to re-evaluate the water system all together. Many times with the improvements this will actually help you. Here is the major key to the Batch Report and the Hydrant Flow Summary. You will notice, “Typically” ISO will have one hydrant listed for a major structure, and that one hydrant will be listed on the Hydrant Flow Summary for which the auditor completes a field flow test checking the volume of water that is available. Do you see where I’m going here? We are pretty sharp line officers and firefighters, IF we were to have a fire at one of these major structures, you would typically pull a supply line from more than one hydrant correct?

This is one of the areas that ISO will not volunteer that information to you as an option. If you look at your Hydrant Flow Summary you will see where quite a few of the hydrants that are listed to be checked, many are marked as insufficient in the ability to supply the correct fire flow for the corresponding structure on the Batch Report. Consequently you will be penalized points for that location. ISO will not volunteer to you the option to supplement your water supply to that fire flow location either, meaning you can tap another hydrant, or supplement the fire flow with tanker support. You mean to tell me that is allowed! Sure it is!

Now to get full credit, the attack plan has be in writing in your pre-plans and documentation of were you practiced it. While you are practicing, calculate your flows! Make sure you have met the criteria of the fire flow, if you are short, grab another hydrant or add another tanker shuttle, do what you have to do to obtain the required water flow. And remember, tankers have no time limit on response time. That means you can pull a tanker in to assist you by your automatic aid from a department far away if needed! Photos and video’s attached to your training report work great for these records.

Worst case, the auditor will have you demonstrate so he may verify that you have satisfied the flow requirement. What we have now is, instead of utilizing one hydrant and you getting penalized, you will now be pulling from possibly three hydrants and running a five tanker shuttle. (this is only an example). What a difference that will make! Especially in the rural areas water supply is going to be your obstacle. Remember this tactic when we start talking about your rural needs. But don’t panic! The water is relatively the easy one IF you back up and re-think the whole equation and realize what you are allowed to do.

As we talk about the Hydrant Flow Summary, I need to caution you on something. Depending on how your water systems are constructed, meaning is the area we are talking about on a dead end leg? Or is it a closed loop on the complete system? Once you start flowing your first hydrant, get a stable discharge reading with a pitot gauge and see what you have. Second step, pick a second hydrant nearby and flow it at the same time of the first. (This is critical; they must be flowing at the same time) Again take readings on the first and second hydrant. Add the two together and see what the total sums of gallons are. If you have satisfied your fire flow then document that those two hydrants will be tapped with LDH supply lines during a real fire. If you are still short try a third and fourth hydrant in the area. You must take reading all of the hydrants while they are flowing simultaneously. Somewhere along this process you will see where the main water line has maximized its total flow. This will be represented by a decrease flow across all of the hydrants together. Watch your residual pressure as well. ISO will only allow you to utilize a hydrant if the residual pressure stays at or above 20psi. Oh yeh,…here is a little thing they don’t tell you. IF your hydrant “residual pressure” does drop below 20psi, you are permitted to add a relay pumper on that hydrant to boost the supply line pressure and flow. Now you have a new set of rules of engagement. Number one, this booster pumper can be from another department, something to think about. And better yet, the minimum 20psi of residual pressure is no longer a barrier. You can now drop down to 0psi residual pressure on the hydrant. That is a very big key! Think about that possibility on the next evolution when you are practicing your fire flows. If you need it, then use it! It is straight from their rule book.

I invite you to send me your questions.

Feel free to contact me via email at: ISOFireChief@yahoo.com

Till the next column,

The ISOFireChief

About the author:

Michael A. Cottrell, Fire Chief for General Motors Corporation, has over 22 years of Fire and Rescue service ranging from Volunteer to Paid from W.Va. to South Carolina, Nebraska and Ohio. In addition to residential fire protection the author has a solid background on high hazard industrial and manufacturing fire protection. More than 16 years experience as a Fire Chief or Chief Line Officer. Training and specialties include; Certified Fire/Rescue Instructor, high angle rescue, confined space rescue, Arson Investigation and former EMT and Medical 1st Responder

The author is the owner of I.F.I. (ISO Fire Improvement Consultants) Specializing in professional community fire protection, ISO pre-audits, master planning, analysis of your fire district planning, apparatus design and assisting with your actual ISO community audit. The author is available for private consultation for your department. If you are interested in obtaining additional consultation on a rapid pace, please contact the author at ISOFirechief@yahoo.com