Have you ever heard: 'In a recession fire prevention and public education is always the first ones cut'? Fire departments have long struggled to demonstrate the value of their various prevention oriented programs. As fire departments begin to reimagine their wider Community Risk Reduction efforts, it is important to not make the mistakes of the past. It is essential that we begin to externally validate and measure the impact of CRR programs across communities. Part of what distinguishes modern CRR programs from fire prevention programs that preceded them is avoiding one-size-fits-all programs that do not match the risk profile of a local community. However, this mindset can make it challenging to determine objectively the impact of a program. This project aims to create the foundation of an approach to objectively compare across communities so we can begin to demonstrate program effectiveness and impact.
American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) is a national, not-for-profit, insurance advisory organization and rating bureau that has served over 700 insurance companies across the US since 1936. For over a century the insurance industry has evaluated fire protection based upon many historical assumptions focused on the location of fire suppression resources and equipment. Many of those legacy assumptions have not kept pace with modern fire experience and our changing understanding of fire losses. AAIS has been developing a new approach for evaluating fire protection and community risk reduction efforts across communities known as FLAMES--Fire Loss and Mitigation Evaluation Score. Once filed with state Insurance Commissioners this approach can be used by insurers as they select and price risks in the property & casualty insurance industry.
Using fire departments and local communities in Tennessee as a case study this interactive presentation will provide a sneak peek of this new approach and provide opportunities to help shape how we as an industry evaluate and measure community risk reduction efforts across the country. And since fire departments have long since evolved beyond simply fighting fires, this discussion will delve into how to measure non-fire related mitigation efforts across otherwise similar communities where the risk profiles may not look identical.
Learning Objectives:
Evaluate how data collected on local CRR efforts can be compared
Discuss how to compare communities across a number of characteristics