Harlan Kirgan
The city’s fire rating has improved from 4 to 3 and property insurance premiums should be headed down.
Eunice Mayor Scott Fontenot said he has seen premium reductions of 16.8% to 19% after the rating improved.
The rating is on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the best.
“It was a lot of work, a lot resources put into that,’ he said of the ratings improvement.
“It came out fine. I’m satisfied with it. There is always room for improvement,” he said.
“I commend the chief and the firemen for working hard towards getting the better rating. It helps everybody. It even helps the districts that rely on us for mutual aid. Their ratings got better when ours got better,” he said.
The mayor said Alderwoman Connie Thibodeaux was instrumental in getting the fire rating improved. “She put a lot of time and effort into that,” he said.
“When you think about that and you think about every property in the city of Eunice that’s a lot of money back in peoples’ pockets that hopefully goes back into the economy,” he said.
Fire Chief Michael Arnold said the process through the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana takes many months.
Three major factors in the grading are communications, department and water supply.
Firefighters are dispatched through the 911 systems in St. Landry and Acadia parishes.
The water supply is from LAWCO.
“With both water supply and communications, we can make suggestions for improvement that would help our grade, but the final say is not up to the city or our department,” he stated in an email.
Arnold stated equipment and manpower affect the rating.
“ Having well-trained dedicated responders, that are available for incidents is a must,” he stated.
Arnold also noted the importance of volunteers for the fire department.
“All responders (paid and volunteer alike) are required a minimum amount of training hours per year. To receive maximum credit, a person would have to train over 200 hours per year, and that doesn’t include driver training, officer training and medical training,” he stated.
“We hope that with upgrades to our apparatus and equipment, along with some great employees and volunteers, we can continue to improve our grade and give the citizens of the Eunice area great service,” he stated.
Fontenot said it would likely be another five years before the city is rated again.