Goodfellow Fire Emergency Services internationally accredited Published March 17, 2016 By Jason Garcia 17th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Emergency Services GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- The Center for Public Safety Excellence, and the Commission on Fire Accreditation International awarded the 17th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Emergency Services Flight international accreditation. CFAI is dedicated to assisting fire service agencies throughout the world in achieving excellence through self-assessment and accreditation in order to provide continuous quality improvement and the enhancement of service delivery to their communities. Seeking accreditation is completely voluntary. It is, however, a very demanding undertaking which takes several years or longer to achieve. The process consists of four phases which include registered agency, applicant agency, candidate agency and finally accredited agency. “We started this process over 5 years ago,” said Jay Teague, 17th CES lead firefighter. “It took a lot of teamwork and long hours but the payoff has been well worth it. A few gray hairs later and we’ve accomplished our goal.” Teague served as the department’s accreditation manger and guided the department through the process. The Goodfellow Fire Department is an all hazards response organization providing emergency medical, fire suppression, technical rescue, fire inspection, public education and hazardous material response. The CFAI evaluated the department in over 250 performance indicators for compliance to internationally acceptable fixed performance and quality practices. The process doesn’t stop for the Goodfellow Fire Department with accreditation; the challenge of accreditation is to show continual improvement, with annual compliance reports submitted to the Commission and an on-site evaluation every five years. The accreditation system is not for all departments. Very few accredited agencies exist. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there are roughly 30,000 fire departments nationwide and of those only 216 are accredited. 51 are federal, 19 are Air Force to include Air National Guard and joint service bases and 3 are Air Education and Training Command including Goodfellow. The accreditation process provided a unique and refreshing view at the way we do business. Today our department is in continuous search mode for better strategies and tactics to accomplish our goals and mission said Mr. Jeff Wilkins, 17th CES Fire Chief, and he summed it up best. “The process is all about making sure that our department is providing the very best level of emergency services to the Goodfellow community and the 17th Training Wing while providing for a safe working environment for our department members. Achieving accreditation reassures our community that we are doing what they expect us to be doing.” For questions regarding CFAI, call 325-654-3539.
