WSRB and Protection Class FAQ  

What is a Protection Class?  

A WSRB Protection Class (PC) is a score from 1 to 10 that represents the community-provided fire protection capabilities available at a specific property. A PC of 1 indicates exemplary fire protection capabilities are available; a PC of 10 indicates the fire protection capabilities, if any, are not sufficient to receive credit for insurance. Each community in Washington state has a PC, which is used as a starting point to determine the PC of individual properties. 

WSRB assigns a PC to each property in Washington state based on:  

• PC of the community the property is in. 
• Distance to a recognized, responding fire station. 
• Distance to a standard fire hydrant. 
• Fire-department-supplied water if the property is not near a standard fire hydrant (known as water tender operations). 

Outside of Washington state, other organizations determine PCs - you may hear names such as Public Protection Classification or ISO rating. One organization that determines PCs for several states is Insurance Services Office (ISO), a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics. Though some agents or insurance companies may even get PC data for Washington state through ISO, that data still originates from WSRB. 

Check out our Guide to Community Ratings to learn more about how the evaluation process works and how it supports fire defense and building safety.

How do PCs get used?  

Most insurance companies covering property in Washington state use WSRB data as one of several inputs to setting fire insurance premiums. Insurance companies that choose to use WSRB PC data use the PC of the individual property, not the community PC, to help set premiums. 

Fire coverage is also just one part of a standard property insurance policy. In other words, many factors affect the total premium that homeowners and commercial property owners pay.   

You may have insurance through a company that does not use WSRB PC data. If so, WSRB PC data won’t affect your insurance premium. To find out whether your insurance company uses our data, contact your agent or insurance company.  

How do PCs get determined?  

 First, a WSRB Fire Protection Analyst visits the community, evaluating the fire protection capabilities of a community based on:   

• Fire department
• Water supply
• Emergency communications system
• Fire safety control

Next, WSRB calculates the PC for each individual property in the community based on the factors listed above (community PC, distance to recognized responding fire station, distance to standard fire hydrant, and water tender operations, if applicable).  

 Get an overview of how the protection class evaluation process works here.