The Baker City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to introduce an ordinance that would create a fire prevention bureau.
Baker Assistant Fire Chief Keith Pease explained that the federal government now requires cities to establish fire prevention bureaus in order to receive points toward their fire rating, which is used to calculate property insurance rates for both businesses and residences.
The points from having a fire prevention bureau used to be bonus points, but now they are part of the overall rating and the city will need the points from maintaining the bureau to keep its “2” rating, he said. The highest possible rating is a “1.”
In the past, Baker did some of the functions of a fire prevention bureau, but not everything, since the points weren’t required, Pease said.