To The Editor:

Wow! Elvis is still alive, Apollo 11 never landed on the moon and President Kennedy was shot as part of a government conspiracy. Now, LAFD has a secret set of books called CAFR, has an insurance underwriter called ISO it is hiding from the public and the leftist media made heroes out of firefighters.

Letter writer Keith Kaye just loves to throw it on the wall hoping something will stick. How can one person consistently be so uninformed and yet willing to share that lack of knowledge with people? Why do some people love to take a thimble full of truth and weave fairytale conspiracies? Curiously, about the only thing he consistently gets right in his prolific complaining is my name.

In Kaye’s latest conspiracy theory he alleges concerning ISO (Insurance Service Offices) “It is the district’s insurance underwriters and it is they who decide everything that has to do with the department’s minimum requirements. They know what must be done and they demand what must be done. They are the ones that are held financially accountable if the government agency is lacking.”

He accuses LAFD of “keeping this information” about ISO from the people. He says we will “lie to you,” which I might add is very offensive, and that we will try and “discredit” him. I won’t lie and certainly won’t discredit Mr. Kaye. The sad truth is I believe he genuinely believes what he is saying.

First, ISO is not even an “insurance underwriter” and it is not “held financially accountable if a government agency is lacking in some way.” On its website available to anyone, ISO describes itself by saying “since 1971, ISO has been a leading source of information about risk. We supply data, analytics, and decision-support services for professionals in many fields. We perform the evaluations as a service to the insurance industry and do not charge a fee to the communities. Through the Public Protection Classification (PPCTM) program, ISO evaluates municipal fire-protection efforts in communities throughout the United States. A community’s investment in fire mitigation is a proven and reliable predictor of future fire losses. So insurance companies use PPC information to help establish fair premiums for fire insurance – generally offering lower premiums in communities with better protection.”

Did you catch that? It supplies data, analytics, and decision-support services for the insurance companies.

When analyzing the level of protection by a fire service it looks at staffing, equipment, training, number and placement of fire stations and the availability of water and fire hydrants. Nowhere does it say it underwrites or insures any business, city or fire district. It is a research tool for insurance companies. In a nutshell, ISO is simply an independent appraiser of risks of fire districts, factories, businesses, etc. The data is then used by some insurance companies in writing their policies for homeowners and businesses.

Other insurance companies conduct their own assessment. You can find out more about how ISO works at http://www.iso.com/Research-and-Analyses/Studies-and-Whitepapers/ISO-s-PPC-Program.html.

Improving or decreasing the District’s ISO fire protection rating does not guarantee that all insurance premiums will decrease or increase based on the level of service. Determination of such fire protection rating ultimately is up to the individual insurance providers writing the policy. Some insurance agencies, such as State Farm Insurance do not utilize the ISO fire protection classification instead they send agents out to evaluate the distance from fire stations and hydrants.

So, as far as ISO is concerned, despite Mr. Kaye’s lack of knowledge on the subject and his accusation of some nefarious, evil plot, ISO is no secret and is very simply explained. The fire district pays no money to ISO and it has been years since ISO has evaluated Lehigh Acres.

On June 13 Kaye speaks of what he calls “the leftist media” as creating heroes out of firefighters. Righttt. Yep, and that bad ol’ media is all controlled by godless commies who would kill their mothers for the sake of a good story. In Kaye’s eyes every reporter in the country is told what to say and write and no journalist is allowed to write the facts of any given story.

In 25 years as a reporter I never once had a story killed or was told to write a story to suit a particular political persuasion. So much for this conspiracy theory.

June 9 Kaye alleged in an online post “Did you know that every government agency in this country has two sets of books? One set of books is submitted to the public and the other, the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), is kept secret.”

Honest, that’s a quote. I couldn’t make this stuff up. So stop the presses! This is the scoop of a lifetime. Now, everyone take a deep breath in and slowly exhale. In with the good air, out with the bad.

Are you ready? Okay, first, yes many agencies across the country call their annual audit a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report or CAFR. LAFD’s annual report is simply called an Annual Audit.

But I have yet to hear of any “secret” reports or audits either at LAFD or any other local government agency. Mr. Kaye is accusing LAFD of keeping two sets of books which would of course be illegal. Mr. Kaye asks for a debate. I accept!

I will soon no longer be an employee of this agency but I will gladly fight fear of hobgoblins and ghosts. Show up with the proof that LAFD has two sets of books, one of which is being hidden from the public. Proof is a copy of the false set of books, or two eyewitnesses to the illegal actions.

Proof Mr. Kaye! Proof! I want to see proof and not just mud on the wall. Mr. Kaye bases his whole case on CAFR’s on one guy on the internet accusing the federal government, not the Lehigh Acres Fire and Rescue District. Please, back up your claim and don’t send people off on some wild goose chase across the internet on CAFRS in general.

You are accusing the local agency, now here is your opportunity to prove it.

Hey, I’m going back to reporting. Prove your accusations against the fire district and I’ll be your loudest and most ardent proclaimer of the facts. If I’ve been misled I will be the most outraged of all. For Kaye and everyone else, the last Annual Audit is always available and that truly is no secret.

Patrick Comer

Public Education Officer

Lehigh Acres Fire Dept.

Lehigh Acres