THOMASVILLE — Thomas County officials are sharing the good news that Central Fire District has maintained its class 4/9 fire insurance rating from the Insurance Services Office (ISO).

Thomas County Board of Commissioners received a letter from ISO on Tuesday with the rating results of an inspection to the department in July 2008. The inspection was required after Thomas County took over the responsibility of providing fire services to the district in January of last year.

“This grouping of numbers rates fire protection and determines the charge for homeowners’ insurance premiums,” Thomas County Fire Department Deputy Chief of Operations Robin Lawson said Thursday. “Ten is at the bottom and one is the highest, with all the bells and whistles. The better the number, the lower the premiums.”

The Central Fire District, according to a county news release, is located in an area extending out approximately two miles and encircling Thomasville. It was formerly known as fire districts one and two before it was reorganized to enhance the level of fire protection services provided there.

The county commission chose to end its 42-year contract with the city for fire service to these two districts in February 2007, with the county taking over in 2008.

“We shadowed in 2007 and officially took over Jan. 1, 2008,” Lawson said. “We only built one station — the northside one — and we just had to hire personnel and move equipment to those buildings.”

Stations in this district include Northside Station at the bypass, South Pinetree Boulevard Station and Remington Avenue Station. One engine company — one fire engine and two firefighters — responds from each station at all times.

The Central Fire District serves approximately 11,000 citizens, Lawson said.

One of the county’s main goals when taking over the district’s fire service was to maintain the ISO rating the city obtained in 2006.

“I’m very pleased,” Commission Chairman Josh Herring said in the release. “We told the citizens we would keep the ISO rating where it was and hold their insurance premiums down. The fire chief and his staff have done a fine job in making our fire service a success.”

County Fire Chief Chris Jones said in the release that the ISO rating is “just one of the many services” that the department provides to citizens, but it “would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of the men and women firefighters and reservists.”

ISO, based in Marlton, N.J., is a rating agency set up by the insurance industry to inspect and evaluate the quality of fire services provided in cities and counties throughout the nation, the news release said.

Mike Stephenson, county manager, said now the initial inspection is out of the way, the county can move forward with finding ways to improve fire services and the ISO rating.

“The first thing I want to do is sit down with Chief Jones to go through the report and identify those areas we can improve, as well as get some costs figures attached to it,” Stephenson said Thursday. “We can present those findings to the board and explain what type of investment it would take to see these improvements made in order to offer reductions in insurance premiums for our citizens.”

Lawson is also happy the department was able to maintain its prior rating and is looking forward to working on improving the score.

“With the way economic times are now, the last thing we need or want to do is make our citizens have to spend more money on insurance,” he said.

For more information about the fire district, call 225-4190 or e-mail tcfd@rose.net.