Goodfellow Fire Emergency Services receives second consecutive international accreditation

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jermaine Ayers
  • 17th Training Wing Public Affairs

The Center for Public Safety Excellence and the Commission on Fire Accreditation International awarded the 17th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Emergency Services its second international accreditation.

Achieving international accreditation is an extensive five-year process that the entire department must work together to achieve. The process consists of multiple phases and is constantly being updated to achieve higher standards.

“It wasn’t easy,” said Christopher Mora, 17th CES fire inspector. “What this accreditation says about our fire department is that we are doing everything we can to ensure that our community is getting the very best from us.”

Mora served as the department’s accreditation manager and led the department through the process.

Earning a second consecutive international accreditation helps to drive and develop a culture of excellence in the Goodfellow community.

This Fire and Emergency Services Accreditation is only held by 257 fire departments of 30,000 nationally, nine of 1,200 in Texas and 68 DoD-wide.

The accreditation was originally developed to protect the health and safety of the public’s interest 130 years ago, and now serves to focus fire departments on continued organizational improvement centered on an all-hazards response.

Goodfellow Fire Department’s accreditation puts it in the top 0.87% of all fire departments and according to the National Fire Department Registry.

“This accreditation is a huge accomplishment for us,” said Jeffery Wilkins, 17th CES fire chief. “It puts us in an elite group of fire departments.”

Wilkins also said, the process doesn’t stop for the Goodfellow Fire Department with this second accreditation. He expressed that the department wants to continuously improve so we can prepare for the next evaluation in five years.