The Liberty Township Fire Department (LTFD) is now an accredited agency with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI), it announced in a press release. LTFD was officially sanctioned by the CFAI on Wednesday after meeting the criteria established through the CFAI’s voluntary self-assessment and accreditation program.
The process of becoming accredited took several years to complete, according to LTFD, and involved a comprehensive look at all aspects of the department.
“Accreditation is a comprehensive self-assessment and evaluation process that enables organizations to examine past, current, and future service levels along with other internal performance measurements and compare them to industry standards,” the fire department’s website states.
By attaining accreditation status, a relatively rare feat for township fire departments, LTFD joins a group of more than 300 agencies to achieve the status of being an internationally accredited agency with the CFAI and Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE).
Locally, Liberty Township joins only the Washington Township (Dublin), Delaware, and Columbus fire departments as accredited departments in central Ohio.
The program 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.
According to the CPSE, its accreditation program leads to improved service delivery by helping fire departments to determine community risk and safety needs, evaluate the performance of the department, and establish a method for achieving continuous organizational improvement.
In the release, Fire Chief Tom O’Brien stated the department’s achievement of accredited agency status “demonstrates the commitment of the department to provide the highest quality of service to our community.”
Liberty Township Trustee Bryan Newell added, “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 department and locate areas where we can improve on the quality of the services we provided. We have known for some time that we have one of the best departments in the area, and now it’s been proven.”
Reach Dillon Davis at 740-413-0904. Follow him on Twitter @DillonDavis56.
