Accreditation and ISO Rating

Lincoln Fire & Rescue is proud to be one of only 258 internationally accredited fire agencies through the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE).  Lincoln Fire & Rescue also has a distinction of being one of the longest continuously accredited agencies since the inception of fire agency accreditation in the early 1990’s.

The CPSE’s accreditation program requires fire agencies to compare their performance to industry best practices in
order to:

• Determine community risk and safety needs and develop community specific Standards of Cover.
• Evaluate the performance of the department.
• Establish a method for achieving continuous organizational improvement.

The accreditation model includes the evaluation of 10 major categories with performance indicators determined by representatives from various facets of government, private
industry, military and academic fields.  Peer assessors are used to verify agency performance on site every five years with final review and approval provided by a commission of subject matter experts.  The basic tenants of the process are to ensure accountability and transparency to the community being served.

In March 2019, LF&R was re-accredited for the fourth time.

ISO Rating

The Insurance Service Office (ISO) provides statistical, actuarial, underwriting, claims information and analyses for a broad spectrum of commercial and personal lines insurance.  ISO also engages in consulting, technical services, and policy language.  They disseminate information about specific locations and communities, promote fraud-identification tools, and process data. ISO serves insurers, reinsurers, agents, brokers, self-insurers, risk managers, insurance regulators, and other government agencies in the United States and abroad.

Fire remains one of the leading causes of property loss.  A community’s efforts to mitigate those losses before, during, or after a fire are of great importance to insurers. ISO has used the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) to review the firefighting capabilities of individual communities helping to provide the insurance industry with information on a community’s ability to suppress and limit fire losses for more than 30 years. The FSRS encompasses a numerical grading scale, ISO’s Public Protection Classification (PPC), to help insurers differentiate the varying levels of fire protection. Class 1 represents the best public protection, and Class 10 indicates no recognized protection.

The City of Lincoln had its last rating improvement to Class 3 in 1974; however, Lincoln Fire & Rescue is proud to report an improvement to a Class 2 rating effective January 1, 2018.  This accomplishment was made possible through the outstanding work by our firefighters as well the incredible support work received from Lincoln Public Utilities and our 911 communications center.

The impact to the average property owner has been “downward pressure” on fire insurance premiums.  Each insurance provider rates different risks such as fire, theft, flood, hail, wind, etc.  Individual property owners may still notice increases in their overall property insurance cost, most likely attributed to weather events. The services provided by LF&R will continue to put downward pressure on the fire portion  of their policy costs.