Property Insurance Association of Louisiana, the organization that grades the protection capabilities of municipalities and fire districts and assigns them a rating, recently completed a return trip to Lake Charles to gather information needed in assigning the city’s fire rating. Since the 1980s, the city of Lake Charles has maintained a Class 2 rating, and according to Fire Department officials, the department has put forth a significant effort to maintain and even improve that number.

PIAL’s 2014 visit ended with the organization requesting a more accurate map of the city’s fire hydrants, so the water study portion of the evaluation could be completed. The evaluations are done every five years and sometimes in shorter intervals if the landscape of the city is changing or if there is a two-grade change in the rating. The final ratings are based on points given to the city and the department after the evaluation.

“There are two types of points in this process. There are the points we can do something about and there are the points we can’t do anything about,” Fire Chief Keith Murray said. “Our guys always work hard to make sure we’re doing everything we can to maintain our rating. We have procedures in place all year that keep everything the way it’s supposed to be when these evaluations come around. It’s a constant process for us.”

Some of the other data going into the overall fire rating includes a water flow study as well as if fire department sizes and locations are adequate enough to provide protection to the city. Even though the official fire rating won’t come out for at least 90 days, Murray said the department came away from the process knowing it did well in a number of areas that require a keen attention to detail from department employees. He went on to mention the extensive emergency plans for buildings across the city as well as the meticulous upkeep of department equipment, including the fleet of fire trucks.

“How did we get it done? We got it done with a lot of threatening and a lot of hard work,” Murray said with a laugh. “We do all of these things because we want the community to know we care about what we do. In fact, we’re already thinking about the 2019 evaluation. These aren’t things you get prepared for. You have to have these good practices and these good routines in place long before that and that’s what we have.”

Murray added that he recently sent a memo out to department employees saying that no matter the outcome as far as the fire rating is concerned, he was proud of the efforts the department puts forth on a daily basis. District Fire Chief Chris Carroll, liaison for International Association of Fire Fighters Local 561 said while the fire rating process runs into its final stretch, the department can only reflect on the aspects of the evaluation it could control.

“We just want the residents to know that we as firefighters have done everything we can do as far as keeping or improving our number,” Carroll said. “We know how important it is to the people, but we also hold our current rating with a lot of pride.”

(MGNonline)