FIRE UNDERWRITERS SURVEY
A SERVICE TO INSURERS AND MUNICIPALITIES
c/o Risk Management Services
NFPA Standards and Your Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS) Grading For many of you this may be an old hat, but for others it could serve as valuable insight into your community's Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS) Grading. First off, what FUS classifications have been assigned to your community? If you do not know, find out. These grades are assigned to communities with organized public fire protection, based on their ability to control and extinguish fires. While the grading system has been around for close to a century, the standards used to measure the adequacy and reliability of public protection have evolved to reflect the changing character of communities and the technological advances made over the years. Today, the "Classification Standard for Public Fire Protection" is the yardstick or model against which a community's public fire defenses are measured. It should be noted that the requirements set out in the Classification Standard are not considered in isolation in that the underlying principles are affected by adherence to numerous other accepted national and international standards such as the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC), Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (ULI), American Water Works Association (AWWA), International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA), and the various Provincial and National Building and Fire Codes. In Canada, the FUS grading system is administered by Risk Management Services, an SCM company [formerly CGI Group, formerly Insurers' Advisory Organization (IAO)] who assign two grades to communities with organized fire protection, based on an evaluation of their physical fire defense systems. One is the Dwelling Protection Grade (DPG) which measures the ability of a community to handle fires in small buildings such as homes. Under this five‐class system, Grade 1 is the best while Grade 5 indicates that the community has very little if any fire protection. Basic factors considered when arriving at the DPGs include water supply, number of firefighters and whether they are career or volunteer, fire apparatus, response distances and method of alarm dispatch. The second more sophisticated grading system is the Public Fire Protection Classification (PFPC) or "town grade" which is expressed on a scale of 1 to 10 where Class 1 represents the highest level of public fire protection while Class 10 represents the absence of any effective public fire protection. The grading reflects the ability of the community to combat major fires that may be expected to occur in commercial, industrial, institutional and multi‐family residential properties and are developed from a comprehensive review of all facets of a community's fire defenses including major features of the water supply system, fire department administration and operations, communications system and fire safety inspection programs. The grades developed as a result of the FUS reviews are one of several factors used in the development of fire insurance rates. The PFPC is also used to determine the amount of risk that insurance companies are willing to assume in a given community. The grading systems do not consider past fire loss records to determine suppression needs but rather the resources needed to control fires, based on the structural conditions in the community being assessed. Enhancing the fire protection infrastructure by improving training programs, public education activities and fire prevention initiatives can lead to a betterment in class; conversely, a deterioration in protection such as closing fire stations, cutting back on manpower and equipment can result in a retrogression in class. Services Provided by SCM Risk Management Services
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"Communities planning to make significant changes to their public protection facilities should contact IAO in advance" says IAO’s vice‐president Gilles Proulx. "IAO can assist by providing advice that enables communities to direct their public protection expenditures in those areas most in need of improvement". FUS Classification Standard for Public Fire Protection makes reference to many NFPA Standards when determining fire protection requirements. Is the equipment and apparatus in compliance? Are there adequate water supplies? To what standards are fire fighters trained (NFPA Professional Qualification series)? Is the number of responding personnel adequate to meet the perceived tasks (NFPA 1710 and 1720)? NFPA's standards have become an important part of the benchmark for assessing your community's fire protection defences. Throughout its standards, NFPA emphasizes the need for community level risk assessments. From these, the Emergency Services can develop and report on the services required to address this. This is essential in addressing standards such as NFPA 1201, NFPA 1710, and NFPA 1720. This is also a critical component in the FUS classifications that will be assigned to your community. For example, the fire prevention program of your community now makes up 20 per cent of this grading. Additional credits are given for pre‐fire planning activities ‐ the greater number of points, the better the grading. A properly prepared Fire Master Plan will greatly benefit any community. A thorough review of your community's risks resulting in a Fire Master Plan ensures that your efforts to resource your fire department are going in the right direction. The elected officials have a complete picture of your community's needs and the level of fire protection should be commensurate with the degree of risk. There are several groups that can investigate and prepare a Fire Master Plan for your community, including the Fire Underwriters Survey. By reviewing your community's FUS grades, you can make an accurate determination of where you should focus your activities. The development of a Fire Master Plan that assesses your community's risks and determines the resources required to address these risks goes a long way to improving this classification. This should be an activity that every community undertakes as it directly impacts on all property owners. For further information on Fire Underwriters Survey, and Risk Management Services, please visit their website at http://www.fireunderwriters.ca/home_e.asp, http://www.scm-rms.ca/home_e.asp or
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Quebec
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Risk Management Services
Risk Management Services
Risk Management Services
Risk Management Services
Fire Underwriters Survey
Fire Underwriters Survey
Fire Underwriters Survey
Fire Underwriters Survey
3999 Henning Drive
1611 Crémazie Blvd. East
150 Commerce Valley Drive, West
238 Brownlow Avenue, Suite 300
Burnaby, BC V5C 6P9
Montreal, Quebec H2M 2P2
Markham, Ontario L3T 7Z3
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia B3B 1Y2
1-800-665-5661
1-800-263-5361
1-800-387-4356
1-800-639-4528
Services Provided by SCM Risk Management Services
ISO 9001 Registered