Fire Safety Ratings Slide to a New Low, Insurance Costs Up

By MANDY LOCKE

As insurance bills make their way into the post office boxes in West
Tisbury this month, homeowners are facing some steep premium hikes.

The increases - reported to be as low as eight per cent and as
high as 100 per cent - come less than two months after the
town's fire safety rating dropped to the lowest possible score.

"This is a real problem and the most significant impact on
insurance [rates] this year," said Robert Mone, owner of Mone,
Lawrence & Carlin Insurance Agency Inc. in Vineyard Haven.

"We're getting more and more calls all the time as
people start getting their bills," he added.

The fire safety rating system - handled by Insurance Services
Office (ISO), an agency which evaluates and classifies every fire
department in America - offers a guide to private insurance
companies for risk assessment. West Tisbury's marks dropped from a
rating of 9 to 10 this spring, and insurance companies are translating
this new mark into inflated premiums.

"Class 10 means we don't recognize the level of
protection. Citizens can interpret this as being inadequate," said
David Dasgupta, spokesman for ISO.

The rate drop, West Tisbury fire chief Manuel Estrella III said,
comes after ISO representatives notified the department that their
method of response to fire alarms did not satisfy their requirements to
maintain a 9 rating. When the department receives word of a sounding
alarm, the fire chief and a police officer alone respond to assess
whether or not there is an actual fire, before alerting the entire
volunteer department. Of the 90 smoke alarm calls from last year, none
turned out to be actual fires.

But ISO demands that at least four firefighters, their equipment and
an engine report to the scene within five minutes when an alarm sounding
is reported.

"Fire protection class is very significant [for insurance
companies.] If your house is being protected by a fire alarm that you
purchase, and [the fire department] doesn't go, what good is it?
There is no response as far as they're concerned," Mr. Mone
said, a West Tisbury resident whose own home insurance increased $400,
up nearly 50 per cent.

The fire chief didn't anticipate the rate change would work
its way into homeowners' bank accounts so severely.

"I was told it wouldn't make that much
difference," Chief Estrella said.

The West Tisbury method of response is not unusual on the Island.
Tisbury fire department has been responding to alarm calls with a team
of four just over the past year. Edgartown's department just
recently began the practice as well. Other towns have not, as of yet,
implemented this full-response system.

Down-Island towns are also blessed to have town water, which allows
them to satisfy a "water under pressure" ISO requirement.
The highest rating West Tisbury, Chilmark or Aquinnah could hope to
receive, without town water or hydrants, is an 8.

It remains to be seen whether or not other towns will experience
rate drops in the coming year.

The West Tisbury department, under the direction of selectmen, set a
new policy beginning this past Monday to respond to alarms according to
ISO's criteria. As of yesterday, the department had yet to try out
the new response method; no alarm calls made their way into the dispatch
center.

Calling his volunteers out in the dead of night to respond to a
false call is not an appealing option, the chief said.

"Getting up at two o'clock in the morning is hard. Even
if you are only gone a half hour, it takes you two hours to get back to
sleep. They're volunteers. They'll get worn out,"
Chief Estrella said. He now has an on-call schedule in which only the
four volunteers on duty will hear the page. The town will compensate
those on call.

"We're trying to work it out so no one gets burnt
out," he added.

Shifting to a full-time, paid fire department is not an option town
leaders are ready to entertain, said John Early, chairman of the West
Tisbury board of selectmen.

"It doesn't need to come to that. That is by no means
indicated by the circumstances," said Mr. Early, who speculates
that a paid department would force another $1 million annually onto the
backs of taxpayers.

But even with this new response policy in place, ISO requires at
least 12 months of this practice, complete with documentation to prove
it. Whether or not home owners' premiums would fall with a fire
safety classification improvement remains to be seen.

"I don't think it will go back down. They say it levels
out, but I'm doubtful," Chief Estrella said, noting that the
town's rate may improve to an 8 once the department's new
equipment arrives this summer - a truck capable of pumping 250
gallons a minute for over two hours, another ISO requirement for rate
improvement.

These faltering classifications, insurance industry insiders say,
could have more severe impacts - forcing some of the already
limited number of companies willing to ensure Island homes out of this
market.

Potential flooding and hurricane damage in this coastal zone makes
insuring Vineyard homes a risky venture for insurance companies, and it
limits which ones will offer insurance here.

"If you live near the coast, you could have one choice. If you
live inland, you could have four to five options. If it's over $1
million, you'll have two choices," said Steve Schwab, vice
president of Martha's Vineyard Insurance Agency.

Mr. Mone is particularly concerned about the staying power of the
two companies willing to take on homes valued over $1 million.

"They could easily decide to pull out," Mr. Mone said.

It's an unappealing market for insurance companies, Mr. Mone
said. Barnstable Mutual Insurance, a small outfit on Cape Cod, stopped
accepting new clients. Realizing that 15 per cent of their policies were
on the Vineyard, the company thought that concentration was too risky.

Massachusetts Fair Plan - a pool of insurance companies for
coastal communities which are willing to share the risk for homes in
these flood zones - only covers homes valued under $1 million.

Insurance companies, from health to life to liability policies, are
already searching for any way to boost premiums as they brave a bad
economy. And the industry - fractured after the magnitude of
claims following Sept. 11, 2001 - continues to recuperate from
that jolt.

"We're seeing dramatic increases in insurance premiums
across the board," said Mr. Schwab.

Mr. Schwab said that homeowners would have experienced rate
increases this year, regardless of West Tisbury's fire safety rate
change.

"Most of the increases people are seeing are economy related
and those related to the coastal zone risk. Increases in insurance are
being seen across the country. You can't simply compare your bill
from last year to this year," Mr. Schwab said, speculating that
the fire safety rate drop probably tacked on anywhere from three per
cent to 15 per cent to West Tisbury homeowners' bills.

"West Tisbury leaders are being very sensitive to this issue.
They've listened very carefully to us and are determined to
improve the situation," Mr. Schwab said.