Insurance Services Office (ISO) Rating

Starting in January 2019, the Insurance Services Office (ISO) Public Protection Classification (PPC) for the City of Batavia will go from a 2 to a 1 and the PPC for the Fire District will go to a 1Y classification. For those that are not familiar with ISO, they classify all fire departments and fire district on a scale of 1 to 10 with Class 1 being the best. Those classifications are used by insurance companies to help determine rates. The better the classification, the better the insurance rate.

New Rating

The Batavia Fire Department is proud to see the classification improved. Throughout the U.S. less than 0.01% of fire departments are a Class 1, and in Illinois, only 20 are a Class 1. The classification is the result of a combination of 3 major factors:

  • Fire department preparedness
  • Water supply capabilities
  • Dispatching capabilities
Insurance Services Office Badge

The last time we were evaluated was about 5 years ago. Since then the fire department has grown, developed more auto and mutual aid with neighboring communities, has better-maintained equipment, better training, better fire prevention, and better record keeping. The Water Department has increased its maintenance and capabilities of the water system and the hydrants. Our dispatch center, TriCom, has also vastly improved their equipment and capabilities since the last review.

There will be little change in insurance rates for single-family homes within the City of Batavia going from a Class 2 to a Class 1. A Class 4 brings most single-family home rates down to the minimum. But, commercial insurance rates could be reduced by better classification. After January 2019, when the new classification goes into effect, commercial property owners should contact their insurance agents to see if a better rate can be applied to their building. The change from a Class 8B to a 1Y in the unincorporated fire district should have an impact on single-family insurance rates in that area.