A.G. Gancarski
A recurring concern of the Lenny Curry administration: improving fire safety. To that end, some good news when Jacksonville leaders said Monday that Jacksonville is the largest city in the country to get a Class 1 rating.
The Class 1 rating denotes, in the words of the administration’s Charles Moreland, “the highest service available.”
Moreland, a former director and fire chief of Jacksonville Fire and Rescue, attributed the accomplishment to an “aggressive policy” undertaken by JFRD two years ago to improve the rating with new equipment and new policies and procedures.
Fire chief Kurtis Wilson noted that there are only 19 Class 1 cities in Florida, and that 98 percent of Duval County is within five miles of a fire station.
Such a number leads to tangible benefits, including a reduction in homeowners’ insurance premiums.
An ongoing pressure: New development, which often, because of sprawl, can take people outside of the five-mile range.
While isolated areas of Jacksonville fall outside of the five-mile boundary, there are ways to mitigate it such as relocating apparatuses to get maximum credit from the ratings agency.
