The Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS Department wants its next inspection by the Office of the State Fire Marshal to result in a new fire rating, one that could save property owners in the city money on their fire-insurance premiums.

Currently, the city has a 5 rating. Ratings run from 1 to 10, with a 1 being the best rating. Inspections, performed by the ratings and inspections division of the OSFM, determine if fire departments meet the minimum fire-protection criteria developed by the North Carolina Department of Insurance. A 10 rating means a department is not recognized as a certified fire department by the state.

After it’s last inspection, the fire department began addressing issues discovered during that inspection, Mark Yates, the city’s fire marshal, told the City Council during its meeting Monday. During its last inspection, the department was advised to improve how it records and reports fire training information and the amount of equipment sent to a fire. In the past, the city considered the aerial platform it used to own as a pumper also. The state said that apparatus could be classified as either an aerial platform or a pumper, not both. Now that the aerial platform is gone, the city sends a pumper to fires to meet the state requirements, according to Yates. Within the past 12 months, the department has acquired two new fire engines.

Yates and City Manager Bobby Roberson expressed confidence the city will receive a better fire rating after the next inspection. A new inspection might not happen until late 2017 or in early 2018, Yates said. “We’re ready,” said Yates, adding the department has adequately addressed the issues raised in its last inspection. “I’m shooting for a 3,” Roberson told the council.

As for inspections of fire departments, North Carolina is transitioning from the Insurance Service Office rating system to the North Carolina Response Rating Schedule, an emergency-response evaluation system used by the North Carolina Department of Insurance. NCRRS will be at least as stringent as ISO, according to the OSFM website. Under NCRRS, inspections will be performed at least every five years.