L’Observateur / June 14, 2000

DES ALLEMANDS – Residents in the Des Allemands area served by the Des Allemands Volunteer Fire Department will see a drop in their fire insurance rates soon.

Thanks to what Chief Anthony Touchard termed “long hours and a lot of paperwork,” along with increasing volunteer membership to 32 members, the fire insurance protection rating improved from level 6 to level 3, the highest attainable by an all-volunteer department.

Commissioner of Insurance Jim Brown’s office said homeowners can expect a 24.9 to 14.9 percent reduction in their fire insurance premiums, as of July10.

“The effort you have put into making your lives and property safer by improving your fire protection has the added benefit of lowering insurance rates on your homes and other property,” Brown said.

For example, fire insurance for a home valued at $80,000 has been costing $595 per year. The improved rating will result in a drop to about $476 peryear, saving them $119 per year in premiums, if a 19.9 percent ratereduction is done.

The amount of the premium rate reduction will vary, depending upon the value of the property, the fire district where the property is located and the rate schedule of the company insuring the property, Brown added.

Touchard said the Des Allemands VFD was last rated in 1993 and, since then, a new rescue truck designed for salvage and extraction has been added to its fleet.

More volunteers is one of the biggest successes of the department, but Touchard added, “We could use a whole lot more.”Half of the rating is based on the department’s characteristics, and half is based on the available water supply, Touchard said.

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