STOW, Ohio — Once a call comes in, the clock starts ticking for Stow firefighters to get out the door.
“We have 80 seconds from the time the alarm comes in to be dressed and having the truck rolling out the door,” Assistant Fire Chief Michael Lang Jr. said. “It takes a lot of practice, but we hit that benchmark.”
Lang Jr. said this is a department requirement and one way the department maintains their ISO rating. The acronym stands for Insurance Services Office, which is a third-party that ranks the efficiency and capability of a city or town’s fire department.
A higher ranking means a lower risk of extensive damage if there’s a fire. That means potentially lower homeowner’s insurance rates for those who live there. Lang Jr. said the discounts vary on the provider, and the rating is based on factors such as response times.
“We have to have our first fire engine on scene within four minutes of the initial alarm,” Lang Jr. said.
A high rating can help, especially since homeowners insurances rates have gone up, according to policygenius.com.
They found that premiums in Ohio increased by nearly 11% from May 2021 to May 2022. They base this on inflation, labor shortages and natural disasters that caused providers to increase costs to offset risk.
Lang Jr. said Stow has the highest possible ISO rating at one. He said they were the first Ohio fire department to achieve that benchmark.
“It’s a good third-party test to see where we really are with our performance,” Lang Jr. said.
Another factor in the ISO rating is access to water. All fire hydrants in Stow are around 300 feet from each other, so if one doesn’t work, then there’s another just down the street.
That access to fire hydrants can be vital in the colder months.
“We do get some extremely cold temperatures here,” Lang Jr. said. “And having a frozen hydrant can be a significant concern in the wintertime. Having fire hydrant about 300 feet apart in our city gives us the ability to just jump to the next one.”
Lang Jr. said almost half of their assessment is based on water supply. They logged about 14,500 hours of training last year, so they’re ready to renew the ISO rating, something that happens every five years.
Quickly transferring water from a hydrant to a rig won’t just minimize fire damage, it also helps improve their ISO rating.
“When our truck rolls up on scene, it’s all muscle memory from there,” Lang Jr. said.
Lang Jr. said that the rating is a benefit for homeowners, but he said their efficient methods are primarily in place to save lives, instead of just saving money.
