Property owners in the Bonham Fire District will reap the benefits of months of hard work by their fire department.

After a year of intense preparations, the fire department recently lowered its Insurance Service Organization rating from a 6/9 to a 5/9. This will result in lower fire insurance premiums for property owners.

Marlton, N.J.-based ISO collects and evaluates a fire department’s structure fire suppression capabilities. It independently serves insurance companies. A representative from the Raleigh, N.C., office evaluated the Bonham Fire Department.

“ISO looks at the district and the fire department to see what the department has to protect and weighs that against what you have to protect it with,” Chief Phil Garner said. “They take it all and run it through an equation. Communication counts so much, the water system counts so much and the fire department counts so much. They average all that out and assign a points rating and that points rating determines your insurance classification.”

Capt. Scott Austin said because of the new rating, a person paying insurance on a $75,000 house will save an average of $50 a year. Commercial insurance premiums will drop even more.

“This should be a selling point for recruiting industry,” Austin said.

To coincide with the announcement of the lower rate, the department will have an open house on Aug. 15 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. The public will have a chance to tour the fire station, see equipment and meet the fire department volunteers.

Bonham’s Fire District covers the county’s industrial park and includes LSP, the new Timken repair division and Standard Textile. It also includes many important facilities which receive fire protection without paying taxes — Upstate Evaluation Center, the Union County Department of Transportation office, the Union County Jail, the Union County Detention Center, the Union County School Bus Maintenance Shop, Ellen Sagar Nursing Home and eight churches. Christian Fellowship Church, Austin’s church, makes an annual donation to the fire department.

Many things had changed since Bonham’s last ISO assessment. Union County had implemented the 911 system since Bonham’s fire department last was rated.

In 2000, Bonham moved to a new, much larger fire station.

One step in lowering the ISO rating was the purchase of a “new” truck- a 1988 Pierce Class A pumper from Croft Fire Department which can transport four firefighters. The department had purchased a 1980 pumper from Croft several years ago. The 1988 Pierce has replaced a 1980 FMC pumper, which the department will sell. The FMC, which would only transport two firefighters, is the last red truck in the department’s fleet — the others are yellow.

Every hydrant in Bonham’s district is tested twice a year and the area around it cleared. The ISO inspector picked several at random to test.

Training records also were examined — each member at Bonham has 20 hours of training a month despite the fact that most work full time jobs. Austin said Howard Kerr, a fire volunteer who works full time with Metro Care, used a week of his vacation time to update the department's filing system. Austin said an inspector can ask to examine records as far back as five years ago.

Austin also thanked his wife and the wives of other fire volunteers who didn’t complain when husbands spent long hours at the department preparing for the inspection.

“It takes quite a bit of time just to keep the department operating and when you are preparing for ISO you really have to put some time in it,” Garner said. “I just want folks to know how much time the guys put in down here. It takes a lot of time and a lot of dedication.”