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5 Fall 2012 We receive many phone calls from residents and insur- ance agents about their homeowners insurance regard- ing an increase, new company, rating, etc. We also get calls from residents outside our coverage area, which is approximately Hwy. 36 South to Hwy. 94 and Inwood Ave. East to Manning Ave. Residents outside this area to the East may have a Lake Elmo mailing address, but are actually covered by Bayport Fire Department. We also receive calls from residents that think we are their fire department because we are geographically closer than other departments, but unfortunately that is not how coverage is determined, it is by city boundaries. Some insurance companies work from the ISO rating, which for Lake Elmo is 6 for homes lo- cated within 1000’ of fire hydrants and a 9 for homes in “non-hydrated” areas or greater than 1000’ from a fire hydrant. ISO is based on a point system that looks at things such as station location, response times, 911 system, water system, training records, equipment on trucks, type of vehicles, mutual/auto aid with neighbors, ability to shuttle water, etc. Other insurance companies want to know how many and the type of trucks we have, how much water we carry and if we have Mutual Aid with surrounding communities. What all this means is that the farther you live from a fire station and are not near fire hydrants, the more your homeowners insurance will be. To better serve our resi- dents into the future, know that your Lake Elmo Fire Department is doing everything in its power to lower our ISO rating (better training, updating equipment, work- ing with our neighbors, improving staffing, etc.) to pro- vide better service and save our residents money. We are also working with the city in planning for the future in Lake Elmo to properly locate fire stations to improve response times as well as replacing aging vehicles to provide better fire protection. I hope this clarifies some of your questions. If you have questions or want addi- tional information, feel free to contact station 1 at 651- 770-5006. If you have any questions or suggestions please contact Chief Malmquist at gmalmquist@lakeelmo.org. Fire Protection: How it Impacts Homeowners Insurance JUNE, JULY, AUGUST EMERGENCY CALL RESPONSE Fire: 36, Rescue: 16, Medical: 69 Please take the time to ensure you will receive notifi- cations about emergency situations that may impact YOU! The City of Lake Elmo utilizes the CodeRED Emer- gency Notification System - an ultra high-speed no- tification system designed to quickly notify the public of emergencies that may affect their health, safety or welfare. The system sends recorded messages to targeted areas within the County at the rate of up to 60,000 calls per hour. It delivers a recorded mes- sage from the City Administrator’s office describing the situation and any instructions for immediate or future action. The message will play when answered by a live person or an answering machine and makes 3 attempts to connect to each number. If you opt-in for text message and/or email alerts those will also be sent. The Calling number for general emergencies will display 866-419-5000. In weather related emer- gencies the calling number will display 800-566-9780. To hear the last message delivered, simply dial the number back. Examples of times when the CodeRED system could be utilized: Extended utility outages, evacuation no- tice and route, missing person, fires, floods, bomb threat, hostage situation, chemical spill or gas leak, and other incidents where rapid and accurate notifica- tion are essential for life safety. The system uses the 9-1-1 data base and other sources for its notification lists, but no one should as- sume that their information is included. Registering is easy and takes less than five minutes. To do so, visit the ‘emergency services’ link at www.lakeelmo.org and click on the CodeRED logo, which will route you to a registration page where you can add or change a phone number, including cell phones, or opt for a text message and/or email alerts. You can opt out of alerts at any time. Your contact information remains private and will only be used for critical communications. For more information on the CodeRED notification system visit www.lakeelmo.org or contact the City at 651-747-3900. Familiarize Yourself with the CodeRED Emergency Notification System