In California one of the largest factors in homeowners insurance rates is the distance to the responding fire station. Most insurance companies file their rates with the state of California stating that they will be using an ISO based rating system. ISO is an organization that rates and qualifies fire stations. All areas of the state are given a score, referred to as a protection class. These scores rank from 1-10. The lower the protection call of the community that you live in, the lower rates you can expect to pay for homeowners insurance.
In order to be rated at the protection class that ISO has determined for your area, you need to have a responding fire department within 5 miles of your home. For a fire department to be considered the ISO approved fire department it will need to file with ISO for eligibility. For homeowners, to receive the low protection class rating on their policy the fire department needs to be within 5 miles of your home and it will need to be filed with ISO.
If a home is located in an area that does not have an ISO recognized fire department within 5 miles of the home, then the homeowners insurance policy will be rated at a protection class 10. This is the highest protection class available to be rated at in California. With a score of 10 rated on a homeowners insurance policy, the home will not be eligible for many insurance companies to write the policy and will likely pay significantly higher rates than other homes with a lower score.