River Falls residents may have a little bit of good news.

Effective Tuesday, the new Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating has decreased from 9 to 5 for the department.

“Ask your home insurance company about this to see if you can save money,” department officials said. “We’ve been told it will be a noticeable different.”

ISO monitors fire departments’ abilities to respond to emergencies, as well as infrastructure, water departments and many other agencies that factor into an area’s overall safety.

ISO then rates the overall safety of an area on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the safest and 10 the most unsafe.

The lower the rating, often times the lower insurance premiums are for local businesses and homeowners.

“Chief Paul Stacks has done an outstanding job along with all the volunteer fire fighters,” said River Falls Mayor Patricia Gunter. “They have worked on not only training but other issues, such as cleaning, testing and maintaining fire hydrants to bring the department’s standards to exceed what is expected. I am appreciative of all their hard work and dedication.”