Fire Chief magazine has an excellent article regarding ISO service companies. Here is the gist of the article;
"To determine whether you need a service company or a ladder company, follow these guidelines: Any area where there are five or more buildings that are three stories or 35 feet or more in height, or five or more buildings that have a needed fire flow greater than 3,500gpm, or five or more buildings that have any combination of these, will need a ladder company. Otherwise, the area needs only a service company.
Simply stated, a department that protects areas with nothing larger than one- and two-story homes and small businesses can get up to 5 points credit on their overall ISO rating if they run a properly equipped service company on every structure fire."
The points referred to above apply directly to the FSRS score (overall ISO rating) and should not be confused with the points given for individual pieces of equipment on a rig. For instance, a pumper that accumulates a total of 650 points will count as an engine company with a point value of 10 against the FSRS. Since a service company is worth 5 points against your FSRS that means you can put the below listed equipment on just about any chassis and get half the value of an additional pumper.
This explains the recent popularity of service company apparatus. The only rub is that ISO wants six personnel to run with the unit but that can be prorated. However, if you have enough responders it shouldn't be a problem.
The official ISO website is
here.
The official list of equipment ISO expects to see on an
engine is here.
The official equivalence list is
here.
Below is the list of equipment required for a Service Company apparatus;
| Equipment | Equivalent | Total Points |
| Large spray nozzle (500 GPM Min) | May be carried on pumper | 16 |
| Six SCBA, 30 min. minimum | May be longer duration | 96 |
| Six extra cylinders, carried | 30 Min. or longer duration Portable cascade or filling station not equivalent |
24 |
| Ten salvage covers, 12' x 18' | 12' x 14' canvas or rip-stop plastic | 20 |
| Minimum 2500 watt generator | PTO driven inverter Mini-generator flood light (prorated in 500 watt increments) Mini-generator fan, (prorated in 1000 watt increments |
25 |
| Three, 500 watt flood lights | Tripod flood light Mini-generator flood light |
12 |
| Smoke ejector | Positive pressure ventilation
van Mini-generator ventilation fan Thermal imaging device |
20 |
| Oxyacetylene cutting unit | Hydraulic or pneumatic
cutting tool Plasma cutting tool Oxy-gasoline cutting torch Circular saw with composite blade Thermal imaging device |
20 |
| Power saw | Chain saw with carbide tip
cutting blades Thermal imaging device |
20 |
| 4 Handlights | 4 wet cell, 6 volt dry cell, Rechargable 6 volt handlight |
8 |
| Hose roller (Equipment hoist) | 4 | |
| Two 6' pike poles Two 8' pike poles Two 12' pike poles |
Six at various lengths | 12 |
| Radio, mounted | 32 | |
| Radio, portable | 16 | |
| 10' Collapsible attic ladder | 10' Folding ladder | 4 |
| 14' Extension ladder | 14' Combination ladder | 5 |