How Baytown Reached Class 1 Fire Protection

Baytown's fire department holds a Class 1 fire-protection grade from ISO, the top step on a 1-to-10 scale. The city says it earned the grade in 2018. Insurers use that kind of grade to help price homeowner policies, so it is worth knowing, and worth asking your agent about.

In 2018 the Baytown Fire Department earned a Class 1 Public Protection Classification (PPC) from ISO, the Insurance Services Office. The city calls it "the highest recognition possible" in the fire service field, and says only 393 of more than 39,000 fire protection areas in the country hold it. A Class 1 grade rolls staffing, equipment, water supply and response capacity into one public number.

The Texas Department of Insurance and the State Fire Marshal list Baytown at class 1/1X, effective Sept. 1, 2018. That listing names ZIP codes 77520, 77521 and 77523 in Harris County and ZIP 77521 in Chambers County.

Here is what the public record shows about the grade, who staffs the department, and what to ask your own insurer. One caution up front: every date on the grade is 2018. The city page does not say whether ISO has graded Baytown again since.

The short version

• Baytown earned a Class 1 PPC grade from ISO in 2018, according to the city.
• The state listing shows 1/1X, effective Sept. 1, 2018.
• The listing covers ZIPs 77520, 77521 and 77523 in Harris County, and ZIP 77521 in Chambers County.
• The FY2025 financial report lists 163 firefighters and officers and 19 fire civilians in the General Fund.
• The FY2027 budget lists 186 full-time-equivalent fire positions.

What the rating is

PPC stands for Public Protection Classification. ISO grades fire departments from 1 to 10, and 1 is best. The grade looks at the fire department, the water supply and the 911 dispatch system. Insurers can use it when they set homeowner rates, but each company decides for itself how much weight it gives the number.

The city says Baytown received Class 1 in 2018. ISO re-grades communities from time to time, and a newer Baytown grade did not turn up on the city page or in a search. So read the date with care: this is the 2018 grade, and it is the latest one on the public record.

Where the rating applies

The state listing is the more detailed record. It shows Baytown in Harris County with ZIPs 77520, 77521 and 77523, and in Chambers County with ZIP 77521. The class shown is 1/1X and the effective date is Sept. 1, 2018.

That listing runs through June 1, 2020, so it is more than six years old. Treat it as a record of the 2018 grade, not a fresh check. If your address sits near a ZIP border, ask your insurer which class it uses for your street.

Who staffs the department

Staffing numbers here are counts of full-time-equivalent positions, called FTEs. They are not the number of people on duty at one time, and they can include positions that one person does not fill.

The city's financial report for FY2025 gives General Fund lines of 163 firefighters and officers and 19 civilians in the fire department. The report shows the same two numbers for FY2024. Citywide, it shows 999 positions in FY2025, down from 1,013 in FY2024.

The FY2027 adopted budget counts differently. It splits fire into three budget units of 20, 4 and 162 positions, for a total of 186, and it lists Emergency Management as a separate unit with 2 positions. Because the budget units are not the same as the General Fund lines, the 186 and the 163-plus-19 do not line up, and they are not meant to. The whole city has 1,001 full-time-equivalent positions in the FY2027 budget.

Baytown also has a Fire Control Prevention and EMS District, dedicated to fire safety and emergency medical services. A local sales and use tax of one-eighth of one percent funds it. That money sits beside the General Fund lines above.

A short history of the department

The city says the Baytown Fire Department did not become a fully career department until Jan. 29, 1993. That was 45 years after the city's founding in 1948. The city opened its fourth fire station in 1957 and its fifth in 1963, the same year it annexed the Wooster community.

Long before that, Pelly's volunteer fire department received its charter in 1920.

• 1920: Pelly's volunteer fire department receives its charter.
• 1948: the city of Baytown is established.
• 1957: the fourth fire station opens.
• 1963: the fifth fire station opens, the year Wooster is annexed.
• 1993: the department becomes fully career.
• 2018: Class 1 rating from ISO.
• November 2025: voters approve design and acquisition money for a new Fire Station 4.

What has changed since 2018

In the November 2025 bond election, voters approved Proposition D, a $4,250,000 facilities item for Fire Station 4. The city says it covers design and acquisition only, not building the station. This is a new project. It is not the 1957 station mentioned above.

The grade dates to 2018. Today the city has an estimated 86,561 people (July 1, 2025), up from 83,701 in the 2020 census. A grade from 2018 describes the department as it was then, so ask whether your insurer uses a newer one.

What this means for you

Treat the Class 1 grade as that year's result. Call your insurance agent and ask two things: which fire protection class they use for your address, and whether it changes your premium. The city record does not set your premium, and it does not say what the grade does to an insurance bill. In an emergency, call 911.

Sources

• City of Baytown: Insurance Services Office (ISO) (https://www.baytown.org/1491/Insurance-Services-Office-ISO)
• City of Baytown: Accreditation and ISO Class 1 (https://baytown.org/1491/Accreditation)
• Texas Department of Insurance and State Fire Marshal: approved PPC listing, through June 1, 2020 (listing PDF, Baytown row: 1/1X, effective 9/1/18)
• City of Baytown: Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, fiscal year ended September 30, 2025
• City of Baytown: FY2027 Adopted Budget (https://baytown.org/Archive.aspx?ADID=1317)
• City of Baytown: History of the BFD (https://baytown.org/376/History-of-the-BFD)
• City of Baytown: 2025 Bond Projects (https://www.baytown.org/1447/2025-Bond-Projects)
• City of Baytown: Fire Department directory (https://www.baytown.org/m/directory/department?did=48)
• Texas State Historical Association: Baytown (https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/baytown-tx)
• U.S. Census Bureau: QuickFacts, Baytown city (https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/baytowncitytexas/PST045225)