Sandy Springs Fire Rescue recently received an important report card.

The Fire Department got a high grade -  Class 3 Rating -  for its fire suppression system from the Insurance Services Office, which gathers data on insurance risk.

Classification numbers are 1 to 10, with Class 10 being the lowest grade.

Ratings determine insurance rates.

According to Fire Chief Jack McElfish, the difference in a lower classification rating from, say, Class 3 to Class 4 may not be extremely significant for a homeowner but it would be substantial for corporations such as Cox Enterprises or UPS. The insurable value of buildings in Sandy Springs is $4.7 billion.

During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, McElfish explained to Council members that no fire department in the state has a Class 1 rating. Sandy Springs is one of 56 fire departments in Georgia and 1,998 in the country with a Class 3 rating. Whereas, 12,863 departments have a Class 9 rating.

“We have to thank our partners at the City of Atlanta Watershed,” McElfish said. “This has not been easy.”

Forty percent or 40 available points in the rating comes from water supply, 50 percent from the Fire Department and 10 percent from radio dispatch [Chatcomm].

The City of Atlanta Watershed management received all 40 points for Sandy Springs’ water supply.

“We had a lot of problems. We started a hydrant inspection program. Almost 20 percent of hydrants were in disrepair, now less than one percent at any one time [need to be repaired]. When you get a water supply system that gets all 40 points, that’s almost unheard of…It takes a working relationship,” McElfish said.

Fire Rescue receives 12,000 calls for service per year. Radio dispatch received 8.5 out of 10 available points.