This announcement came during a presentation regarding the city's ISO rating during the Oct. 14 Round Rock City Council meeting.
“It’s an honor to achieve this elite ranking,” interim Fire Chief Shane Glaiser said at the meeting. “Our department is proud to be supported by a team at the city of Round Rock who make our community such a safe place to live, from general services to information technology to our colleagues in the police and utilities departments.”
An ISO rating is a score from 1 to 10 which indicates how ready a community is to fight fires, and it can have a direct impact on insurance rates in a given area, 1 being the best prepared. The rating is determined by a combination of factors, including response time, emergency communications, availability and maintenance of water resources, and ongoing training of the fire department. ISO ratings are evaluated every five years in Texas.
Commercial businesses may see some impact from this rating as their insurance policies renew, an estimated savings of 2% according to the city of Round Rock. This is expected to benefit local economic development, a city release states, as some businesses use a community's ISO rating as a determining factor in selecting a location.
