ISO Rating 1

Minooka Fire Protection District

PRESS RELEASE

Minooka – Chief Al Yancey announced today that as the result of an evaluation by the Insurance Service Office (ISO), Minooka Fire Protection District, in cooperation with local water services and WESCOM Dispatch, has secured a Class 1 Public Protection Classification. To give a little perspective on this classification, only 19 communities in Illinois currently maintain a Class 1, and only 241 communities out of more than 45,500 communities in the United States currently maintain a Class 1 Protection Classification.
The bulk of the evaluation focuses on the Fire Protection District operations, including staffing, staff training, apparatus, equipment, facilities, deployment/response times, fire inspections, new building plan review, and public education. The community water supply and system as well as 911 call handling is also evaluated.

The ISO evaluation looks at the capability of the Fire District to respond. The level of training, staffing for responses, response times, and the apparatus and equipment we bring to emergencies all factors into determining the risk in the community. The Fire District provides advanced training to our personnel, and provides a professional staff of personnel. ISO evaluates the Fire Districts apparatus and equipment to determine if we have the proper apparatus and equipment to properly mitigate a fire.

The Fire District has been progressive in updating and improving the local fire safety code to be in-line with National Fire Safety Code. The fire inspector and firefighters conduct regular reviews of commercial properties, working with property owners to maintain safe environments for their employees and the visiting public.

Public education is a large part of our community risk reduction program. The Fire District shares a full-time public educator with the Channahon Fire Protection District and provides regular fire safety and risk reduction programs in our community. We partner with Minooka and Channahon Elementary School Districts to provide regular safety sessions with school aged children. In addition, the public educator provides fire extinguisher training, safe cooking, smoke detector maintenance, exit drills in the home, and many other educational items to the general population. All of these prevention activities lead to a safer community. ISO recognizes the Fire District efforts as reducing risk and loss in the community.

The Village of Minooka and Village of Channahon Public Works Department continues to update and improve the water system, which is also part of the classification evaluation. Both water departments have made significant improvements to the water system over the past several years. The evaluation considers the ability of the water supply network to supply water to fire suppression efforts while also supplying daily water use requirements. The maintenance of the water lines, water towers, and hydrants are also evaluated.

Western Will County Communications Center (WESCOM), which serves as the Fire Districts 911 and dispatch center, is also evaluated. The evaluation reviews the dispatch centers ability to effectively handle 911 calls and communications to fire resources responding to emergencies, specifically looking at staffing, training, call handling times, and the communications to responders. WESCOM made significant improvements since the last ISO grading for Minooka Fire District, including a new dispatch center building, new communications network for improved communications across the region and overall improvements to meet national standards for emergency call handlings and communications systems.

The new classification becomes effective February 1, 2019.

Prepared and authorized for release by:
Chief Al Yancey
10/24/18

Minooka Fire Badge

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