Departments » Public Protection

The Public Protection department evaluates fire defenses and water supplies of cities and fire protection districts to determine community public protection classifications (PPC), and evaluates the effectiveness of building code enforcement of cities and counties to determine Building Code Effectiveness Grading (BCEG) classifications. We provide municipal authorities, such as fire, water and building departments, with information and advice concerning factors which can affect property insurance rating.

Building Departments: Look here for the Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule Overview.

Fire Departments: Look here for the Public Protection Grading Process Overview, the minimum criteria for a grade of Class 8,and the minimum criteria for a grade of Class 9.

Do we need a ladder truck? What kind of ladder truck would be sufficient? These questions may be answered by downloading our Ladder Truck Grading.

Items 11 and 12 of the evaluation deal with fire hose requirements. The Hose Supply and Condition Grading document, details the requirements of these items.

Item 13 deals with Fire Department training, which is outlined in the Training Grading document.

The requirement for hydrant flow testing every 5 years is 5 percent of Item 13, as shown in Water Supply Maintenance Grading. The other requirements for Item 13 remain unchanged. Due to the official declaration of drought conditions by the governor in 2005, if flow tests were not conducted that year, there will be no penalty in the grading.



Press Information

For more information, contact:

Robert Ferrell, P.E., Manager, Fire Protection Systems & Services, Spokane Office (509) 487-3899 X 8102
Dave Tofte,Building Code Effectiveness Grading Specialist (206) 273-7159
Kelly McGougan, Public Protection Field Representative, Spokane Office (509) 487-3899 X 8104
Scott Melby, Fire Inspector I, Public Protection Field Representative,(206) 273-7154
Shari Cox, Assistant & Customer Service Representative (206) 273-7141