Pikeville fire rating - Wayne-Wilson News Leader, Fremont, NC

4 October 2007 — In keeping with what fire chief Wesley Wooten calls “some pretty good volunteer departments” in the area, the Pikeville-Pleasant Grove Fire Department recently improved their ISO rating to a six.

The rating improved for the department, which was ranked as a seven before inspections began in April. The highest ISO rating a department can receive is a one; a score of ten isn’t recognized by the state as a functioning department.

For citizens, this improved rating means several good things. Most importantly, it means that the department is better prepared to deal with emergency situations.

But the improved rating also means a drop in insurance rates for those within Pikeville-Pleasant Grove’s fire district.

“It affects each homeowner, each car owner, each moped owner,” said Chief Wooten. “Each piece of property, there's a little piece of fire insurance stuck on all of them.”

The biggest break, he said, will come to homeowners in the area. And a rating of six means that homeowners in the district are actually paying the lowest insurance rates they can get. A rating of six or lower fetches the baseline fire insurance rate, while each point above six increases the rate for homeowners.

Business owners, however, could look forward to further drops in insurance should the department move up to a five in the next few years. And that, said Chief Wooten, is very likely.

He told the Pikeville Town Board Tuesday night that the department was very close to the borderline between a six and five this year, and that if improvements are made in the next few years, the department could boast a five the next time it is inspected.

He said that the departments are graded in three areas – radio technologies, water supply, and the department itself. Chief Wooten said that radio communications is handled through Wayne County, not the department, but that significant improvements were on the way.

He said that he would also encourage the town to keep more of a surplus in the town’s water tank, because not having that could potentially hurt the score in the future.

The department will also need to look at purchasing a ladder truck in the next few years, he said, especially if a new school is built in the area. He added that the department has use of a ladder truck from another department, but that having their own would save time in emergencies.

Chief Wooten also said that he predicted that, if the area continues its current growth, the department will need to add a few paid staff members in the next few years. That aspect will also help improve ratings.

Commissioner Johnny Weaver asked Chief Wooten if he thought it would be cost-effective to try and boost the rating to a five when it would only affect businesses, not homeowners.

Chief Wooten said that he felt it would be, because Pikeville is encouraging economic growth, and the lower rating might entice businesses to build there rather than other places.

He thanked the board for their time, and said he looked forward to working with them on making the department even better.

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