Fire insurance premiums change in the county
By Mike Cox
MWC423@bellsouth.net

Homeowners in rural Richland County should soon be able to see savings in their fire insurance premiums thanks to a long, detailed, and successful effort by local officials to improve the county's fire rating.

In 1989, there were three fire stations in unincorporated Richland County. The county provided Columbia with funds to operate the stations, located in Sandhill, Lower Richland, and Ballentine, and had no say in how those funds were used.

The following year, the Richland County Council began a program to improve county fire service. The first thing the council did was establish a countywide fire district with a specific plan for improving fire service and increasing accountability for funding. That same year, the council formed the Richland County Fire Marshal's office to manage fire service.

Within 18 months, eight new fire stations were built, and two were annexed into the fire system. A contract with Columbia to operate the system provided consistent service.

In 1992, two more stations were added, and the county began installing dry hydrants in the area, which are pre-determined water points used to fill tanker trucks to operate a water shuttle system.

Since the inception of this project, Richland has invested $106.8 million in fire station construction and an additional $20 million in trucks and equipment.

These efforts have helped lower the PPC rating for most of unincorporated Richland County. The PPC rating is established by the Insurance Services Office, and is used to determine quality of fire protection in a specific community.

The ratings range from one, usually in urban areas with excellent fire protection, to ten, typically areas that don't meet ISO minimum criteria.

Several factors determine the rating of a community; receiving and handling alarms (10%), fire department personnel and equipment (50%), and water supply (40%).

Richland County, in addition to building new stations and better outfitting fire fighters, established a program to identify local water sources to use in the water shuttle system. This became a cost effective way of improving fire protection.

Mel Spivey was instrumental in this program. She used county maps, GPS photos, and lots of legwork to locate, identify, and report local water sources sufficient to use for fighting fires.

Before the county began the program, most unincorporated areas of the county had a rating between six and nine. The new rating, recently established, is four. This will save Richland residents from 11% to 40% in premiums, depending on their old rate.

For example, with an old PPC rating of six, a home valued at $101,900 was paying $766 in fire premiums. The new rate, at PPC four, is $684. A home valued at $85,600, with a current rating of nine, will now pay $645, $430 less than the existing rate

Insurance providers won't necessarily reduce rates automatically. Anyone who thinks their rating has been affected by this program should contact their insurance company to determine if they are eligible for a reduction in premium. Anyone with questions can contact the Richland County Administrative Office.