Fire protection can be misclassified for many reasons, and the correct classification may change between insurance policy terms. Every week, fire stations open or close and automatic-aid agreements begin or end. 

Why are properties misclassified and what is the impact?

The nearest fire station to a property isn’t always the responding one—or even capable of an effective response. Some water supply systems can’t deliver enough water to fight fires and service the community. And some properties are hard for firefighters to reach. Whatever the cause, misclassification can lead to mispriced risk and adverse selection.

Building on a strong foundation of fire protection measurement

Fire Protection Risk Assessment helps you measure the strength of fire services across time and geography to capture this underwriting factor with pinpoint precision.

Grow your book of business

Target ideal profiles for expansion while avoiding adverse selection.

Predict loss experience more reliably

Compare key fire protection attributes against prior loss experience.

Improve the health of your book of business

Identify risks with lower frequency and severity.

Discover unmatched expertise on fire protection

Verisk constantly innovates to better assess fire protection for more accurate insurance rating and underwriting. Our solutions start with the industry-standard Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS)—key criteria to review community-level fire services.

Thorough grading criteria

• Emergency communications – Call handling and fire dispatch capabilities, protocols, and performance
• Water supply – Location and quality of water supplies, including more than 9 million hydrants
• Fire department – Department type—volunteer or paid—plus geographic coverage, distance to responding fire stations, and automatic aid
• Community risk reduction – Thorough grading of community fire mitigation efforts

Measure fire protection with address-level granularity

LOCATION Public Protection Classification (PPC®)

Use the gold standard in community-based fire protection scoring to understand details such as types and capabilities of local fire departments, the nature and accessibility of water supplies, and distance from a property to the nearest responding fire station—so you can select and price risk more accurately.

LOCATION Property Protection Score (PPS)

Go further with individual property risk scoring for personal lines homeowners. A new level of predictive granularity lets you drill deeper into fire protection and safety at the address level, with measurable advantages for growing your book and improving expected loss experience.