March 23, 2022

Johnson City Fire Department awarded International Accredited Status

The Johnson City Fire Department announced today that for the first time in department history it 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. The JCFD is one of more than 300 agencies worldwide to achieve Internationally Accredited Agency status with the CFAI and the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE)

The Johnson City Fire Department becomes the sixth department in Tennessee to receive Accredited Agency status. JCFD is only the third agency in the state to receive this designation and also maintain an ISO rating of 1. Other fire departments that are accredited are Alcoa (ISO 1), Brentwood (ISO 2), Bristol, TN (ISO 3), Kingsport (ISO 2), Maryville (ISO 2), and Murfreesboro (ISO 1).

CFAI is dedicated to assisting the fire and emergency service agencies throughout the world 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 is voluntary and 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 evaluate their completed self-assessment.

Interim Chief David Bell 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.

“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,” Bell said. 

The Johnson City Fire Department started the process of Accreditation in 2017. The long and exhaustive process has led to the JCFD developing a continuous improvement model. The department analyzes data on call volume, call type, response metrics, and frequency to adapt departmental operations to fit the need of the community. This will be an ongoing analysis to ensure that the JCFD will continue to improve the quality of services provided to the City of Johnson City.

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