For the third time, the Castle Rock Fire and Rescue earned Accredited Agency status with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International. CRFD is one of only 301 agencies to achieve Internationally Accredited Agency status with the CFAI and the Center for Public Safety Excellence Inc.
CRFD first earned its Accredited Agency status in 2012. Accreditation is a lengthy process that includes a detailed evaluation of current practices, and a commitment to continuous quality improvement.
CFAI is dedicated to assisting the fire and emergency service agencies throughout the world in achieving excellence through self-assessment and accreditation to provide continuous quality improvement and the enhancement of service delivery to their communities. The CFAI process is voluntary and provides an agency with an improvement model to assess their service delivery and performance internally and then works with a team of peers from other agencies to evaluate their completed self-assessment.
Accreditation is valid for five years. In May, a team of CFAI professionals visited the Town to evaluate all aspects of CRFD. The peer evaluation team is comprised of fire professionals with different backgrounds, such as fire chiefs and fire marshals along with specialists with expert knowledge in wildland fire fighting, life safety and more. This method of evaluation ensures that CRFD was judged through the lens of a diverse set of viewpoints. After the three-day evaluation, the peer team recommended reaccreditation.
“The outside departments that evaluate our processes help us see what we don’t see ourselves,” said Deputy Fire Chief Rich Martin. “It’s all about continuous improvement and I’m proud that our hardworking team met the challenge to earn our reaccreditation.”
The department appeared before the Commission on Fire Accreditation International during their hearings in Denver this week, where accreditation was officially granted. Fire Chief Norris Croom, along with Mayor Jason Gray, Town Manager David Corliss and other Town leadership attended the commission hearing.
“CFAI reaccreditation represents our commitment to provide the highest quality service that our residents expect from us,” said Croom. “We will use the continuous quality improvement process to proactively plan for the future of CRFD and identify areas where we can further improve on the services we provide for our community.”
For more information about accreditation, contact the Fire Chief’s Office, 303-660-1066 or email fire@CRgov.com.
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