Regulators Approve ISO Fire-Protection-Class Database of U.S. Property Addresses for Insurers’ Use a

With Maine on board, insurance regulators in 44 states and Washington, D.C., have approved Insurance Services Office Inc.’s (ISO) LOCATION™ database of Public Protection Classifications (PPC™), the ISO program that grades the fire- suppression capabilities of more than 45,000 municipalities in the United States. This represents all jurisdictions in which ISO conducts public protection gradings of fire-protection areas.

The LOCATION database provides insurers a fast, accurate means to assign a PPC code to specific risks by street address. ISO’s LOCATION database includes street addresses of residential and commercial properties throughout the United States. Insurers use the PPC program to evaluate communities’ fire- suppression capabilities—a key criterion in pricing property insurance coverage.

ISO’s LOCATION is the only address-specific database that provides insurers updated protection-class, postal and road data every month on CD-ROM. In the six independent-bureau states—Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Washington—insurers can opt to file the database for regulators’ approval to assign PPC information to individual risks. ISO can also help insurers file the database in those states.