North Metro Fire Rescue District was awarded Internationally Accredited Agency status with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) on Thursday, April 3, making it one of only 13 agencies in Colorado to earn the acclaimed designation.
Accredited status is given to agencies that meet the criteria established through the CFAI’s voluntary self-assessment and accreditation program and demonstrate they are community-oriented, strategic-minded, data-driven, and outcome-focused. North Metro Fire joins a group of more than 300 agencies across the world that have achieved Internationally Accredited Agency status with the CFAI and the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE).
“Earning accredited status demonstrates North Metro Fire’s commitment to provide the highest quality of service to our community,” said North Metro Fire Chief David Ramos. “It took several years of dedicated work by many people across our organization to accomplish this achievement, and I’m proud of their focused efforts to openly assess where we are today and develop plans for where we want to be in the future. I also think this recognition reflects the support we have received from our community and our board of directors that has allowed us to grow and excel as a fire district.”
The Accreditation Process
The CFAI process provides an agency with an improvement model to assess their service delivery and performance internally, and then it pairs the agency with a team of peers from accredited agencies to verify and validate their completed self-assessment. All divisions and programs were evaluated as part of North Metro Fire’s comprehensive self-assessment, and the district also utilized in-depth data analysis to further review its performance against national standards. District personnel then developed plans for improvement and timelines that were incorporated into the report provided to the peer team.
As part of the process, the assigned peer team conducted a site visit, which included interviewing department and program leaders as well as board members, reviewing all documentation and references provided by North Metro Fire and providing feedback to the fire district. Upon conclusion of the site visit, the peer team recommended North Metro Fire to CFAI, where they participated in a final hearing on Thursday before the commission. Following their hearing, they were awarded the accredited status.
“Working towards accreditation is one of the most exhaustive and comprehensive evaluative processes a department can go through,” said Deputy Chief of Support Services and Accreditation Manager Matt Horan, “but all the effort that went into earning our accredited status was worth it. What we learned and developed through this process will greatly benefit our community and our organization for years to come, and we’re excited to be honored with this designation.”