The City of Americus is about to make a terrible mistake if they close a fire station. I retired as Chief of training for this department and even though I live in the county I still consider myself a citizen of the city. The lower the ISO number means lower insurance rates and the higher the number means higher rates. A little history of what it has taken for the city to obtain a Class 2 rating. The department had a Class 5 rating with one station. When they added the second station they still had a Class 5. It was not until they opened Station 3 that we were able to obtain a Class 4 and only missed a 3 by a few points. After some improvements to the water supply a Class 3 was obtained and after the purchase of equipment and more improvements to the water supply they were able to obtain a Class 2. The closing of a station would mean laying off from 9 to 12 firefighters. The engines in this station would no longer be required. This action would move the city from the present Class 2 to a Class 4 or possibly a Class 5. The economic impact to the city would be devastating. Higher insurance premiums for all businesses would be a disaster and industry would not look to move here in the future. By going as low as a Class 5 home owner insurance premiums would go up accordingly. There are rumors of combining the City and County departments next year and this would be a mistake. Ask people living in the county in the 27th district how they are doing now on their insurance compared to when the city gave them coverage. Citizens you need to speak up now before it is too late and this city is carried backwards.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 17:31:25 +0000