Las Cruces Fire Dept. earns Class 1 rating

first time in 25 years, the las cruces police department can say it’s number one! the las cruces fire department earned a class 1 rating from the insurance services office. it’s only one of 97 departments nationwide — including el paso — to earn the top spot. the i-s-o not only looks at the departments’ ability to put out fires, but it evaluates its public fire- protection services. the ranking provides incentives and rewards to help improve the deparmtent. but for residents, the rating could result in lower insurance premiums. commercial policy holders could also see their premiums lowered. steve mims-lcfd operations deputy chief “from an insuranc standpoint when you have el paso as a class one as well and you have people that are looking at las cruces and el paso and where do they want to go, where are they going to put their business. It used to be el paso had a potentially better insurance rating because of the one…. now we’re equal with them.” :17 sec the new rating takes effect july 1st. that’s when the las cruces fire department will notify local insurance companies, which will then pass on the lower premiums. a new poll suggests that voters in three key