Achieve and maintain Fire Service Accreditation through the "Continuous Improvement" model administered by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI)

On July 28, 2017, the Commission on Fire Accreditation, International (CFAI) awarded Accreditation status to the Charlottesville Fire Department, Charlottesville, Virginia.  CFAI is an approved authority through the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE).  Due to the nature of the CFAI fire service accreditation model, requiring accredited fire departments to continuously seek to improve their service and performance, the Charlottesville Fire Department has already undertaken a new initiative to maintain its current accredited status and to be reaccredited in 2022.     

The CFAI Accreditation Model is a comprehensive program of self-assessment and provides the only international set of performance criteria by which a community can evaluate the levels of service, the professionalism, and the quality of fire, emergency medical, and other services a fire department provides to its constituents.  The CFAI Accreditation Model provides a process by which citizens, elected and appointed officials, and fire and emergency services personnel can assess all the activities and programs relative to modern fire and emergency services.  Additionally, the process allows a fire services agency to determine when it has achieved an appropriate level of safe and effective performance as well as efficiency as an organization. 

Fire Departments accredited through CFAI offer their communities assurances that:

     - the fire department has a defined mission and related objectives that will result in improving organizational performance

     - a detailed evaluation of the department has been performed along with an evaluation of the services it provides to the community

     - areas of strength and weaknesses within the department have been identified

     - a methodology for building on fire department strengths and addressing fire department weaknesses is in place

Achieving accredited agency status as conferred through CFAI indicates successful completion of a rigorous fire department self-assessment process whereby the department's programs and services and its policies and procedures are evaluated against industry best practices and against established benchmarks for outcomes and performance.  Additionally, accredited agency status indicates that the fire department has developed creditable short-term action and long-term strategic plans and that it has thoroughly analyzed and understands the nature of its community's risks.  Lastly, accredited agency status indicates that the fire department has successfully aligned its mission, vision, values, programs and services, with the needs and expectations of its community resulting in a more efficient and effective emergency services organization.