Is Charleston losing it’s Class 1 ISO rating? My guess is yes. Particularly because of the ominous release from the fire department.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (Dec. 19, 2008) – The ISO report and rating for the City of Charleston Fire Department has been released by the Insurance Services Office. Fire Chief Thomas Carr and Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. will release the report at 11:00 today, December 19, 2008 at City Hall in Council Chambers at 80 Broad Street. Copies will be available at the press conference.
We covered the curious nature of Charleston’s stellar ISO rating back in 2007.
A national team of firefighting experts took less than a week to come up with more than a dozen “immediate” recommendations deemed so pressing they couldn’t wait a month to be implemented. Most mirrored concerns raised since the June 18 Sofa Super Store blaze that killed nine of Charleston’s firefighters.
Several of the items in the task force recommendations aren’t innovative techniques but rather nationally-accepted standards Charleston has failed to incorporate over the years. If we were a community known for an antiquated response to fighting fires, the news would come as no surprise. But many times in the months since the fire, and for years before it, the city has stressed its Class 1 ISO rating. A city press release on the day following the fire notes that it’s “the highest ranking available nationwide.”
We’ll update when the information breaks.
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