Pearland ranked one of the best cities in U.S. regarding resources dedicated to fire protection

The city of Pearland is among the top cities in the state and the country when it comes to fire suppression and control resources.

At the April 25 council meeting, the Texas Department of Insurance presented Pearland City Council with an Insurance Services Office, or ISO, class 1 rating for the city, which factors in various criteria including emergency communications, water supply and the fire department response.

“That is a great testament to this mayor and council and councils before them in terms of the investments that have taken place, but then also the professionals throughout the city of Pearland,” Pearland City Manager Clay Pearson said at the meeting.

Pearland was graded in different factors in the ISO survey: emergency communications, in which Pearland was given a 9.99 out of 10; credit for water supply resources, in which the city was given a 39.67 out of 40; and credit for the Pearland Fire Department’s response, which scored 41.25 out of 50, according to agenda documents.

According to city officials, ISO’s Public Protection Classification Program, in which Pearland received the class 1 rating, plays a key role in the underwriting process at insurance companies, which is how an insurer decides the risk level when issuing coverage to a business. Pearland’s rating was an improvement from the class 2 rank during ISO’s last survey in 2015.

ISO’s Public Protection Classification measures the effectiveness of the city’s public fire protection response, Pearland Fire Chief Vance Riley said at the meeting. There are only 470 class 1 fire protection district protections across the country, he said.

“It is really an honor to be able to receive this tonight, and we hope every single time we have to go through this [survey] that we continue on [improving] in the future,” Pearland Mayor Kevin Cole said.