A national rating organization recently examined the Fort Dodge Fire Department and ranked it among the best in the United States.

Perhaps that’s no surprise to city residents who have long believed that their Fire Department is outstanding. But the new rating issued by the Insurance Services Organization now has the insurance industry and the fire service nationwide taking notice.

The Insurance Services Organization ranks community fire protection on a scale of one to 10, with one being the best and 10 being the worst.

For decades, Fort Dodge was rated at a four.

As of February, it is rated as a three.

What is the significance of that?

The organization rates 46,045 fire departments across the country. Just 3 percent of them, or 1,565 departments, have a better rating.

Mike Johnson, vice president of Calvert & Johnson Insurance Service Inc., in Fort Dodge, told The Messenger that it is “pretty phenomenal” for a city the size of Fort Dodge to have a rating of three.

He said the new rating could lower some insurance premiums by 5 percent to 10 percent.

Fort Dodge improved its rating by adding six additional firefighter/paramedics in the last few years.

The decision to buy a new 2,000-gallon-per-minute pumper truck while keeping an older 1,500 gallon-per-minute rig as a backup gave the department some more pumping power that also impressed the Insurance Services Organization.

The presence of the fire training tower on Avenue O operated by Iowa Central Community College also played a role in improving the rating.

The improved rating is a tribute to all of the city’s firefighters. They earned it by doing the dangerous work of putting out fires and by doing the little-noticed work of maintaining the trucks and equipment.

The Fire Department isn’t the only thing the Insurance Services Organization looks at when issuing a rating.

It also looks at the community’s water system. The engineers who designed the Fort Dodge system, the operators of the John W. Pray Water Facility and the public works employees who maintain the water mains and hydrants all deserve credit.

We salute all of them.

Fort Dodge residents should feel proud to have some of the best fire protection in the nation.