Jackson's fire safety rating may slip down

While the city of Jackson has constructed new sewers, electric lines and water mains to keep up with city growth, it has not kept pace in the area of fire safety, a recent report suggests.

The city has made some improvements to the fire department over the last several years, including increasing staff, but an independent insurance organization says Jackson is in jeopardy of losing its fire safety rating, which was last issued in 1990.

Representatives of the Insurance Services Office recently notified fire chief Brad Golden that the city was in danger of dropping from a five to a six on the ISO's 10-level scale.

The ISO has given the city three months to come up with a plan of action or be given a lower rating, which would result in higher insurance rates for many home and business owners.

Golden said some of the areas highlighted by the ISO are technology issues, which easily can be addressed by purchasing hardware and software.

But the long-term approach of maintaining quality fire service is more expensive.

Mayor Paul Sander said the ISO report will have considerable weight when it comes to the city's planning.

"We've made a lot of improvements to the fire department, but this tells us that even with those improvements, we're going to have to prioritize a satellite fire station and do it probably sooner than we thought we needed to," he said.

According to the ISO's letter to the city, Jackson lost 33 percent of its credits in the receiving and handling of fire alarms.

Golden said much of this loss had to do with equipment. The department lost several points, he said, because the dispatching equipment does not have the technology to warn the dispatcher when emergency personnel have lost communication. He said the county's 911 board is already looking into ways to fix that problem.

The city also lost 20 percent of its credits in the department's one-engine response on first alarms.

The ISO, Golden said, considers all sounding alarms "first-alarm" responses, meaning the fire department should respond as if a structure were actually on fire.

The department sends only one truck when alarms are reported because the vast majority are false alarms. Golden said the ISO is considering changing the requirements.

The department also was docked because of the distance trucks must travel to reach certain areas. As the city has grown, many newer residential areas lie outside the recommended distances of 1.5 miles from a fully staffed company and 2.5 miles from an equipped ladder company.

For several years, Golden has been saying Jackson needs a satellite fire station. The ISO report confirmed his viewpoint.

However, a new station effectively would double the current fire department staff. It would also require purchasing land to build a new station, meaning the city eventually may ask voters to approve a tax increase.

Sander said the city will look at the budget as soon as next year to begin finding ways to fund the project.

Golden said a task force has been formed to examine these issues and form a plan for the ISO by August.

"But we'll also be planning for the next two to five years to see if there aren't other things we can improve," Golden said. "We have to be exploring with the council and staff what we can do to place a second station in the city and possibly a third one."

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635