On December 9, the Federal Fire Department onboard Naval Air Station Fallon passed an intensive accreditation visit that brings the department one step closer to full accreditation by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI).
Over the course of the last two years, Fed Fire has embarked on the CFAI accreditation process to internally assess the effectiveness and delivery of fire service programs to NAS Fallon and the Churchill County community, Currently there are 281 fire departments across the globe that are CFAI Accredited protecting 11% of the U.S. population with 65 of those accredited agencies deriving from a Department of Defense or federal entity. In the state of Nevada, only one other fire department has achieved accredited status, the City of Henderson Fire Department.
The accreditation process includes the creation of a five-year Strategic Plan, a Community Risk Assessment - Standards of Cover and the Fire & Emergency Services Self-Assessment Manual. During the two-year span, NAS Fallon F&#S progressed through the phases of Applicant, Registered, and currently Candidate statuses, with the culmination being an oral assessment and line of questioning from an 11-member commission panel representing a cross-section of North American fire and emergency services, including fire departments, city and county managers, labor leaders, standards development organizations, and the Department of Defense.
Most members of our community may be more familiar with the Insurance Services Office, or better known as the ISO Rating. The ISO rating uses the Public Protection Classification on a 1 to 10 scale to gauge the ability of a local fire department to respond to fires. The ISO rating is then used by the insurance industry in determining insurance premiums for properties within the community. CFAI Accreditation is a non-profit organization that offers independent verification and validation of an agency's performance and operations. The accreditation process encompasses ten categories in which a fire department is assessed and evaluated against national standards and similar fire organizations under a Peer-Review model. It is not uncommon for a fire organization to carry CFAI Accreditation and an ISO "One" rating as there are currently 102 fire service organizations that hold both.
For three days in December, an independent four-person team comprising of fire service professionals located around the country visited NAS Fallon to validate the documents submitted and conduct a "hands-on" assessment, to include interviews, in order to determine the credibility of NAS Fallon's Federal Fire Department as it relates to fire protection services. Upon conclusion of the Peer Team site-visit. NAS Fallon Federal Fire Department was provided recommendations on areas of improvement, but was most importantly recommended for accredited status.
Michael Cornista, Accreditation Manager for NAS Fallon Federal Fire Department, was grateful for the recommendation and knows there is still work to be done. "The accreditation process has provided our fire department an opportunity to identify areas within our program services that we can improve upon in order to provide better fire protection and prevention services for our customers and the NAS Fallon community. A lot of work was done to get where we are and many departments and individuals throughout the Churchill community and NAS Fallon helped get us to this point. We are looking forward to sitting in front of the commission to represent NAS Fallon and Navy Region Southwest Fire and Emergency Services," said Cornista.
The next steps in the fire department's accreditation process are to implement the recommendations from the Peer Review Team and prepare for the commission hearings scheduled for March 2021.
"I am very pleased with the results from this visit," said Capt. Evan Morrison, Commanding Officer of NAS Fallon, "All of Fed Fire's hard work is being recognized. It is truly a great accomplishment for our firefighters."
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