Gordon fire chief offers clarity on new ISO rating

Municipal fire departments are graded in three areas – “dispatch,” “water supply” and “fire department.”

The Gordon Fire Department currently is doing just fine in the first two categories, Chief Nathan Cole told the city council Monday. It’s the third category where the GFD is in desperate shape, and it all boils down to volunteer firefighters, or a lack thereof.

This is why the Gordon Fire Department recently “failed the minimum requirements to be recognized” by a nationwide fire safety ratings service. That decision was reached by Verisk Analytics, the company tasked with assessing fire departments and assigning an Insurance Services Office (ISO) fire safety rating for communities across the country.

This subsequently makes Gordon’s ISO rating a Class 10, meaning that the city’s fire services failed to meet the minimum level of requirements to be recognized. The city of Gordon previously was a Class 6.

Gordon currently has no volunteer firefighters.

 “ISO requires a minimum of four personnel to be at fire structure fire,” Cole told the City Council. “We don’t have the required (number of) personnel going to structure fires.”

Cole counts as one “personnel,” meaning that the GFD essentially needs to recruit and maintain at least three volunteer firefighters. If and when that happens, the GFD can request a re-evaluation from Verisk, and Verisk can revisit the city’s current Class 10 rating.

Keep in mind, however, that the “four personnel” does not include firefighters from other nearby departments, such as McInytre or Irwinton or North Wilkinson. In other words, if there is a structure fire in Gordon and 10 firefighters respond, the only ones who count in the ISO rating are actual Gordon FD personnel.

A new volunteer firefighter class is currently scheduled in Wilkinson County for Sept. 5. Volunteer firefighter recruits, according to state law, are required to achieve 345 hours of training before they can start. This is a major recruiting deterrent, according to Cole. 

Cole added that his department is “constantly” looking to recruit new volunteer firefighters, but it’s a very steep uphill battle.

Former GFD Chief Terry Eady also spoke at the council meeting and previously offered his opinion to the Times Journal Post.

“The amount of training is ridiculous. (Volunteer firefighters) are now required to receive 300-something hours of training, which is right up there with full-time firefighters. If you’re a young person, with a career and family of your own, that’s too much time out of your year,” he said. “The changes are going to have to come from the state level. The people in Atlanta will have to develop a system to make it easier for these different towns and counties to find good, quality (volunteer firefighters).”