John,
Different fire departments have differing ideas as to how fires are best fought. One of the indicators of a departments' competence is in the local fire insurance rates. Those who believe in standing off and throwing a lot of water at it have much higher insurance rates.
If you are talking about the ISO ratings that insurance companies use to set rates, I will have to disagree. While the ISO rating looks at a lot of things to arrive at a classifiaction for fire departments, the strategy and tactics used by the department is not part of the rating. About 50% of the ISO rating score is from the water supply that is available to the fire department. The ISO ratings go from Class 10 (no organized fire department) to Class 1. There are only a few (less than 50, I think) Class 1 rated departments in the US.
Don
