Hard work has paid off for members of the Kennebecasis Valley Fire Department.
It is the first fire department in New Brunswick to become internationally accredited.
The accreditation is awarded by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CAFI) and the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE).
Mike Boyle, chief of the Kennebecasis Valley Fire Department, said the detailed process to receive accreditation began in 2022.
“It’s a very involved process and basically looks at everything within a fire department, starting with governance all the way through operations, safety, and getting into equipment and all of those things,” Boyle told our newsroom.
Accreditation process
Over the past several years, the department implemented a strategic plan, conducted a community risk
assessment and completed a self-assessment covering 250 performance indicators.
A four-member peer review team made up of chief fire officers from Saskatchewan, Alberta and Kansas visited the department in April to verify its self-assessment.
The process concluded in Colorado earlier in August, when a delegation from the KV Fire Department presented before CFAI’s 12-member commission, which formally awarded accreditation.
“Sometimes people think that maybe fire departments don’t need to run a certain way or don’t need to have a quality improvement cycle, but for us, it was realizing that this could improve everything,” Boyle said of the accreditation process.
“More importantly, it is opening ourselves up to that external review and that external validation. Sometimes it’s really hard to know how well you’re doing, and it’s helpful to have someone else come in and help you do that self-analysis.”
Annual reporting
The department’s accreditation is valid for the next five years, at which point it will begin the entire process all over again.
In the meantime, Boyle said they are required to submit an annual compliance report to show the progress they continue to make.
“Accreditation isn’t an endpoint, it’s actually a starting point for a quality improvement cycle,” he said.
“And it’s not saying that we’re the best, it’s not saying how good we are. It’s really saying, ‘hey, we’re committed to getting better.'”
The Kennebecasis Valley Fire Department is one of only eight currently accredited fire departments in Canada, and one of just over 300 worldwide to achieve this recognition.
