The City of Rye has improved its Insurance Services Office (ISO) Public Protection Classification rating, advancing from an ISO Class 4 to an ISO Class 3. That should mean better insurance rates for homeowners and businesses in Rye. ISO evaluations measure how well a community is protected from fire risk by examining emergency communications, fire department operations, staffing, training, water supply, and community risk reduction efforts.
“[The better ISO rating] will benefit every taxpayer in the city,” said Public Safety Commissioner Mike Kopy when he announced the news at the Rye City Council meeting on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. “If you have fire insurance in the city, if you are a business owner, if you are the landlord that owns the business, if you have a home owner’s policy that has fire insurance, if you have a boat in the marina and you have fire insurance, because it’s located in City of Rye, you should suspect to see a decrease in your fire insurance costs.”
Kopy said he thinks the City will be able to improve further to an ISO 2 rating in the near future – perhaps in the next two years, he said.
The better rating reflects a variety of initiatives that have been taken to reduce fire risk including:
- Operational readiness by establishing an increased staffing level on duty each shift
- Training including a designated Municipal Training Officer and embedding training into daily operations and supporting continuous professional development
- Technology including the implementation of First Due, a comprehensive fire service software platform, enhanced scheduling, inventory and fleet management, and operational readiness. Also a recognition of the department’s GIS capabilities
- Revitalized Fire Education program expanded fire safety instruction in local schools and extended outreach into the community through the department’s annual Open House and additional public education initiatives
ISO rating being discussed at Rye City Council on March 4, 2026:
