Community Outreach Program

ISO has the highest-quality fire protection information available because we collect data directly from local fire authorities, city managers, and other community officials. ISO staff gathers data in the field to map fire protection areas, water coverage areas, and fire station locations.

ISO’s Community Outreach Program — aggressively supported by many state and local fire associations — identifies communities that have made changes to their fire-protection systems. 

How ISO keeps information up to date
In a typical year, we identify and verify more than 2,800 fire station location changes and 9,500 changes to protection-area boundaries and automatic-aid agreement areas. Those changes can affect the distance from an individual home or commercial property to the nearest responding fire station. Examples of significant changes include annexations or changes in the boundaries of a fire district, new or closed fire stations, water-system improvements, or changes in the way a community receives and handles fire alarms.

ISO contacts community officials by phone and mail. We send the officials detailed questionnaires, including maps of their fire jurisdictions. Upon receiving a community’s returned questionnaire, ISO performs an analysis to determine whether the community has made significant changes in its fire-suppression system. Based on that review of changes, ISO contacts the appropriate officials to schedule an on-site survey.

ISO also offers a free service to fire departments around the country — Fire Chiefs Online — a secured website with information and features that can help improve a community’s Public Protection Classification (PPC™). Fire chiefs can fill out questionnaires online, update them as needed, and access interactive maps of their fire protection areas and verify their accuracy.

Fire chiefs and city planners use PPC results to plan improvements to a community’s fire protection
The findings below are from a survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation in July 2003 of fire chiefs and other officials from randomly sampled communities around the country.