Report for the ISO Inspection

By Sara Laub
The ISO, Insurance Service Organization, is used to make standards to rank fire stations for insurance companies. Fire stations are scored in three areas: 50% Fire Department, 40% water ability, and 10% for communications. These three add up to how ready a town is to provide fire safety.
Steve Haluska, chairman of the NWSSD, was at the June water board meeting and gave the ISO report for Gunlock and also the NWSSD. The ISO stated that Gunlock does not have a fire department and so it scored a 10, the lowest. Since the ISO is only interested in structure fires, the structure fire truck does not have a station to reside in, therefore there is no department. The brush truck’s fire garage does not count and only fire calls to structure fires are included in the report.
Communications has been improved in the last year and Gunlock uses radios now without much problem. The communication portion was adequate.
The water ability of the town did fairly well for the inspection, and only had one hydrant perform lower than the standard. The GSSD is responsible for maintaining and testing the fire hydrants since it is part of the water system.
The rest of the NWSSD ranked at a 7, which led Haluska into a conversation about who should be responsible for Gunlock. Ivins responds to all Gunlock fires and arrives faster than the NWSSD, and he suggested that maybe Gunlock should be part of Ivins.
There are a few things going on with the district currently, including the rates going up to pay for the Veyo fire department and the district will be charging all parcels of land for fire safety. Developed (homes which we already pay each year), partially developed (pastures) and non-developed (grazing, range) land will have different fees but all will be charged a fee since the district will show up to put out fires on all parcels of land.