Renton Regional Fire Authority (Renton RFA) has received Accredited Agency status with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) for meeting the criteria established through the CFAI’s voluntary self-assessment and accreditation program. Renton RFA is one of less than 400 agencies worldwide to achieve Internationally Accredited Agency status with the CFAI and the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE)
CFAI is dedicated to assisting the fire and emergency service agencies 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 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 verify and validate their completed self-assessment.
Fire Chief Steve Heitman stated that the agency’s achievement of Accredited Agency status “demonstrates the commitment of the agency to provide the highest quality of service to our community.” Chief Heitman continued, “We have also been able to use the Commission on Fire Accreditation International’s process as a proactive mechanism to plan for the future of this agency and locate areas where we can improve on the quality of the services we provide to the Renton community.”
This accreditation has been years in the making for Renton RFA and included a rigorous multi-step process that brings together collaborative input for every division within the organization. It also included a thorough on-site visit from a group of independent CFAI Peer Assessors who examined all processes and procedures within the organization, first-hand, to provide feedback regarding areas of improvement and objective recommendations.
“We could not have achieved accreditation without the outpouring of support we’ve received from our community”, stated Chief Heitman, “In recent years, Renton voters have secured our fire benefit charge and our property tax levy, ensuring fire and emergency service funding for years to come. That vote of confidence allowed us the opportunity and resources necessary to work toward this feat, and I am exceptionally proud to serve this community and this organization.”
Accreditation through CFAI is not a singular achievement, but rather an on-going framework of self-assessment that must be continually evaluated and renewed. Moving forward, Renton RFA will continue to vigorously analyze their policies, procedures, and service offerings to maintain their Accredited Agency status and, most importantly, proceed down the pathway of continual improvement to provide the highest standard of service to the Renton community.
