CUMBERLAND – Randolph Volunteer Fire Department has completed measures and received a new ISO rating, which is good news for citizens in the southern portion of Cumberland County related to their fire insurance.

According to Dan Pemple, lieutenant with the volunteer fire department, the Insurance Services Office (ISO) came and conducted the review this past summer and officially completed their evaluation in October and issued a rating of “8B” for the Randolph Department.

“They come around and check fire departments usually every five years or you can request them more than that if you think you have improved and they then give each fire department or company a rating and then the insurance companies use that for giving you an insurance rate for fire insurance,” explained Pemple to The Herald recently.

Randolph had a rating of a “10” previously because the volunteer department did not have a rating.

Pemple went on to explain that a rating of “1” is perfect and would be found in a community with a three-mile radius that has a paid fire department.

“Eight means we are basically able to provide 5,000 gallons of water,” described the Lieutenant about getting water to a fire within a five-mile radius of the fire department, which is located on Route 45.

“There are a couple of areas that are still outside of our response time but we have automatic mutual aid and that helped give us the rating,” he also added about assistance Randolph receives from Farmville's fire department and Cumberland Volunteer Fire Department.

According to the Fire Suppression Rate Schedule (FSRS), the manual ISO uses in reviewing the firefighting capabilities for individual communities, “Forty-percent of the grading is based on the community's water supply,” which was not being met by the Randolph Department when the department was first getting on its feet. “This part of the survey focuses on whether the community has sufficient water supply for fire suppression beyond daily maximum consumption…”

Randolph requested that ISO conduct the review because the department “hadn't heard anything from them” since acquiring several new trucks within the past few years, noted Pemple.

“We thought we had all of our ducks in a row,” he said. “And down in Farmville they had received a phone call that they were getting re-evaluated because of not having the whole area of Randolph included anymore and they did it all at once for the two departments.”

The newer trucks and the availability of mutual aid from nearby departments were the key components to Randolph's ability to get those required 5,000 gallons to structure fires.

Currently, Randolph houses a new 1,500 gallon pumper; another 1,500 gallon pumper/tanker; and the County purchased two used trucks from Goochland that each holds 1,000 gallons of water, which gets Randolph to 5,000 gallons and the needed water rating, noted Pemple.

He also said that citizens in the southern portion of Cumberland should call and check with their homeowners insurance companies to make sure that their policies are updated with the new rating.

“If they missed it…they can say 'Here's the rating. We know what it is,'” he advised about Randolph's new rating, which should prove to be cost-savings to the citizens in the area.