Residents urged to contact homeowner’s insurance provider to reduce rates
October 26, 2018—On Thursday, Oct. 11, Wood Heights Fire Protection District announced findings of the 2018 Insurance Service Office rating. The new ISO rating could provide residents a significant cost reduction to their homeowner’s insurance policy.
WHFPD Fire Chief Lee O’Dell said the department was contacted in July by the ISO group to reevaluate the fire department.
“The last review was done in 2012 and they try to reevaluate every five years,” O’Dell said. “ISO rates fire departments on a scale of 1 to 10 [with] 1 being the best fire coverage and 10 high-risk coverage.”
Prior to 2012, the district was ranked 9/10. O’Dell said that after more than two years of extensive work, the district’s rating was changed to 4/6/10 in 2012.
“Four was for inside city limits of Wood Heights and Crystal Lakes, six within five miles of the fire station, and 10 rating for five plus miles from the station,” O’Dell explained. “Our fire station is centrally located, so roughly 95 percent of the district is within five miles of the fire station or one of our automatic aid departments.”
The new rating released designates the district as a 4/10—four for everyone within five miles of the fire station and 10 for anyone five miles or more from the station.
“The only area of the district that is five miles plus is off U Highway near Glenn Road,” O’Dell said.
O’Dell urges residents to contact their homeowner insurance provider to see if they can save money annually on their policy.
“If your insurance company doesn’t honor the ISO system, I highly recommend you call around and get quotes, as I have heard citizens saved nearly 60 percent on insurance annually from the last rating change.”
Even though the department received an updated rating, doesn’t mean the work stops.
“We will be going over the current rating and finding out ways we can improve for the next review in five years,” O’Dell said. “The number one item we need to do, is have citizens support the tax levy in April 2019 to fund a full-time fire station. This levy would allow us to yet again decrease the ISO rating and in turn save tax payers even more money after the next review.”
The district welcomes any questions, comments or concerns regarding ISO rating, the upcoming tax levy ballot measure or general questions. Residents are invited to attend the district’s monthly board meeting held the third Wednesday each month at 7 p.m. at the Wood Heights Fire Station, unless the meeting is changed due to scheduling conflicts.
Additionally, anyone wanting more information is welcome to email info@woodheightsfire.com.
“We will make contact with the citizens to answer any and all questions they may have,” O’Dell said.