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The Thibodaux Volunteer Fire Department has maintained a Class 2 rating from the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana, the announcement of which came two years after the department became the first all-volunteer firehouse in the state to rate that high.
PIAL rates fire departments on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the best, on dispatching, communications, manpower, equipment, training, response times, water supply and other factors. The rating is used to set fire insurance premiums for residential and commercial property.
“It takes a lot of hard work,” Fire Chief Mike Naquin said. “It’s a team effort that gets it done, not just one individual. There is a lot of people that play big parts to make sure it gets done.”
The fire chief credited the department’s volunteers, the board of directors, the City of Thibodaux and the police department as part of his team that ensures communications are smooth and necessary upgrades are installed.
PIAL conducts random assessments every five years, or two years if a department’s rating changes by two or more levels. Thibodaux is set to be re-evaluated in 2016.
“Getting there is one thing, but maintaining is going to be difficult thing, because there is so many factors,” Naquin said. “We’re just going to keep chugging along and just staying informed as to what the requirements are.”
Because volunteer fire departments have stricter standards n for example, it takes three volunteers responding to a call to make up for one certified firefighter n the 2 rating is about as high as Naquin expects to reach.
“I’m not going to say that’s impossible, but I just don’t know if that’s going to be do-able,” he said. “Where we could improve on points is to have more training and have more members attend fires.”
As it pertains to training, each volunteer would need to average about 24 hours per month in order for the department to improve its score, Naquin said, and the firehouse already averages 51 volunteer responders per call.
The municipality’s fire district has now posted consecutive 2 ratings after falling to a 4 in 2004.
Naquin, who is in his 15th year as the department’s chief, said random factors such as the time of evaluation and other uncontrollable nuances can influence the rating. Maintenance work on the water supply plants in 2004 hurt the department’s classification, he said.
The fire chief urged property owners to verify their insurance premiums are set at the appropriate scale. He also asked the owners of commercial buildings that have sprinkler systems to ensure they have filled out the necessary paperwork and received the proper designation with PIAL.
Although the city’s fire department responds to calls in Lafourche Fire District No. 4, which is east of Thibodaux along La. Highway 1 to Lafourche Crossing, the Class 2 rating does not extend beyond city limits. Insurance premiums in Fire District No. 4 are set at a class C rating.
Five fire departments in the state boast a class 1 rating and there are about 40 departments that have a 2 classification, according to PIAL.
In the background, the Thibodaux Volunteer Fire Department Training Center sits adjacent to the department’s central office. Fire Chief Mike Naquin said the center helped the department maintain a Class 2 rating, the second highest on a scale of 1 to 10. ERIC?BESSON
