No smoke, no flame and no fire, but the sirens and fire trucks kept rolling Thursday morning in the parking lot of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church.

Firefighters from stations throughout the Iberia Parish Fire District came together to keep water flowing during its certification exercise. Thursday was the last day in a three-day evaluation process that is performed every five years. Days one and two included a full day of paperwork and detailed equipment inspection.

The final day of the certification process, overseen by a representative from the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana, consisted of performance evaluation.

(Use arrows above to view more photos) Advertisement

As a pump truck sprayed a continuous 50 foot arc of water through the air, other fire trucks were arriving every few minutes to keep the pumper supplied with water. The water was relayed from nearby hydrants to a portable 5,000 gallon tank which fed the pumper truck, just as it would be done in fighting a fire in the rural areas of the parish.

“We’re looking at keeping a constant flow for two hours,” said Chief Guy Bonin, Fire District No. 1. “Very seldom do we use a hydrant out in the parish. We’ll use them if they’re close, but this is the method we normally use.”

The day’s exercise consisted of three two-hour rounds, the first at Sacred Heart, the second on Jefferson Terrace and the third at American Tanker on Admiral Doyle Drive. The first two were completed when the team ran into trouble at the third site.

“We were successful in two of the three,” Bonin said. “The third we didn’t do because of a problem with the water. It was a water company problem. We’ll redo it next Tuesday night.”

Participation in the exercise included about 21 people and 17 trucks. The district uses pumpers and tankers. Pumpers have mounted pumps, carry hoses and equipment, and can carry 1,000 gallons of water. Tankers can carry 2,000 gallons of water and service equipment. Bonin said both pumpers and tankers were used to relay water for the exercise.

The entire process is stressful, he said, because the performance of the firefighters will help determine the district’s certification rating, one important factor in determining fire insurance rates throughout Iberia Parish.

“It’s a five-year rating, which affects everybody’s insurance in the parish, both businesses and homeowners,” Bonin said.

Armond Schwing, an insurance agent in New Iberia, said every community has a protection class established by the insurance industry and receives a rating dependent on the type of fire protection in that district. That rating determines the cost of insurance.

“The city of New Iberia has protection class 2, because we have paid firefighting and the entire city’s covered,” Schwing said. “That qualifies the city to get their insurance rates in class 2.”

Class ratings range from 1 to 10, with the lower the number, the better.

Iberia Parish was a class 6 until the Fire District was formed and a paid staff was created on Avery Island Road, he said. Then the rating dropped to 5, an improvement for all the parish residents.

“Their good rating enables us all to save,” Schwing said.

Bonin said it will be two to three months before the district learns the results of the certification pro-cess.