The South Lynches Fire Department recently became one of only eight rural fire departments in the nation to earn a Class 4 or better rating from the Insurance Services Office. Because of the improved rating, residents of the South Lynches Fire District may see a potential drop in homeowners, commercial and industrial property insurance rates, said spokeswoman Debbie Altman. Altman said although it varies from insurance company to insurance company, some rates may drop as much as 10 percent. The new rating, or Public Protection Classification (PPC) -- which is district wide -- is a significant improvement from the previous rating of 6 in the general district and 10 in those areas further than five miles away from a fire station. "Insurers use the ratings to develop the right fire insurance premiums based on data that is not subjective in any way," said Allison Dean Wright, executive director of the South Carolina Insurance News Service. "The bottom line is, everyone should strive for the best rating so they can get a better rate." The Insurance Services Office, or ISO, provides up-to-date information about a municipality's fire protection services. It is the leading supplier of rating and statistical information for the insurance industry in the United States. The ISO provides this service through its PPC program as it collects the information and analyzes the data using its Fire Suppression Rating Schedule, or FSRS. The FSRS is the ISO's manual that is used to measure the major elements of a community's fire suppression system and thus assign a PPC grading on a scale of 1 to 10. A Class 1 rating signifies a community having the best public protection and a 10 represents less than the minimum recognized protection. The overall grading is broken down as follows:10 percent is based on how well the department receives and dispatches fire alarms, 50 percent is based on an in-depth examination of the fire department itself, including personnel and equipment, and the remaining 40 percent focuses on the community's water supply. The South Lynches Fire District includes an area of 212 square miles inside a 10-mile radius of Lake City, including the towns of Coward and Scranton. The department's membership of 120 firefighters is spread out among six stations located in Lake City, Coward, Camp Branch, Cades, Leo-Camerontown and Scranton. The ISO notified the department of its new rating June 17. A celebration banquet was held in Thursday night in Nan Ya Plastics Corp.'s banquet hall in Lake City. The event was designed to give those in attendance a better appreciation of the significant impact the Class 4 will have on the community. Altman said the new rating reflects increased efforts on the part of the department and others to provide adequate fire protection.