Homeowners in Augusta County should expect to see lower home insurance rates soon.

Homeowner Fred Grunder only lives a few miles from the Preston L. Yancey Fire Department; a facility that is now more equipped to fight fires. He hopes to save hundreds on home insurance.

One neighborhood held homeowner's association meetings to talk about the high insurance prices and how to change those numbers.

"Because the number of homeowners did complain when the rates went up, and I think there was concern on the part as I said at the meeting that we should be able to have a quicker response than we were able to get," said Grunder.

More resources mean better response times in case of an emergency.

Insurance companies use something called an ISO rating to determine how much money should come out of your pocket for home insurance. They do that by coming to fire departments and figuring out how many resources are available to fight fires. But if there are too few resources, that call could get sent to another fire department, farther away, which increases the cost of home insurance.

ISO stands for Insurance Service Office, and Augusta County's deputy chief said it helps keep departments in check.

"The ISO really serves as a road map of where we need to be. The better we reach those benchmarks, the better the ISO's going to be, and this community will ultimately benefit by having lower insurance rates," said Mike Armstrong with Augusta County Fire Rescue.

Grunder said he's thankful resources will be nearby in case of an emergency.

"Then we wouldn't have to worry. If you had something like a heart attack, you would be more comfortable knowing that you could get to Augusta Health quickly."

Insurance agents say you can save on home insurance by installing fire sprinklers, an alarm system and purchasing several insurance plans under the same company to get the best deals.

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