County and VFD's Working to Lower Home Insurance Rates

Winston County residents may benefit from lower home insurance rates in the future. Winston County officials, including County Supervisors, Emergency Management and volunteer fire departments are all working together to lower the County's fire rating.

Areas and Counties across the state are rated on a scale of one (best) to ten (worst) for fire protection capabilities by the Mississippi State Rating Bureau.    Most rural areas of Mississippi rate at 8-10 on this scale due to financial and asset limitations. Until recently, Winston County was rated at ten but has been able to improve its standing to a 10C. The 10C rating indicates that all volunteer departments are certified and are properly equipped. This rating should equate to a 5% drop in homeowners insurance rates. Area homeowners should check with their local insurance providers to verify that this rating is being applied.

According to County Emergency Management Director Buddy King, efforts are being made to lower this rating even further to a level 9 or 8.  A change to a level 9 fire rating could mean as much as an 18-22% drop in insurance premiums for rural homeowners. King indicated that it could take 2 years or more to complete the requirements to achieve the lower rating but that the goal is attainable with cooperation of all parties involved. One major requirement is that a home must be within five road miles of a fire station.While the majority of properties do meet this requirement, there are pockets that fall outside of the designated range. By establishing secondary sites for some volunteer departments, all property could fall within this requirement.

Determining the proper locations for these sites and meeting the necessary specifications would be a major step in lowering the rating. Efforts are underway to accomplish this and King indicated that new GIS (computerized mapping) capabilities that will soon be in place, will aid in the process. Volunteer departments also need better documentation and computer abilities in place to meet these specifications as well.

W.McCully