Dubuque Fire Department Awarded International Reaccreditation

The Dubuque Fire Department (DFD) has again received Accredited Agency status with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) for meeting the criteria established through CFAI’s voluntary self-assessment and accreditation program.

DFD achieved the reaccreditation following a thorough, five-year process including document review and onsite assessment. The department is one of more than 300 agencies to achieve Internationally Accredited agency status with the CFAI and the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE). Dubuque Fire was first accredited by CFAI in October 2021.

“This achievement reflects the tremendous commitment of our Fire Department members and the many City departments and partners who supported us throughout the accreditation process,” said Dubuque Fire Chief Amy Scheller. “It takes an entire organization working together to critically evaluate how we serve our community, measure our performance against professional standards and industry best practices, and identify opportunities to become better.”

“I am incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed their time, expertise, information, and support along the way,” added Scheller. “Reaccreditation is certainly something to celebrate, but its greatest value is in the process itself, the commitment to continually learn, improve, and strengthen the service we provide to the Dubuque community.”

Only about 330 agencies across the United States and Canada have achieved CFAI accreditation. The Dubuque Fire Department is one of just six accredited departments within the state of Iowa.

The Dubuque Fire Department completed its reaccreditation during a hearing earlier this week in Chicago, IL. The hearing is the final step in the process and follows an on-site visit by a CFAI peer team. During the hearing, department representatives responded to questions and comments from CFAI’s 13-member accreditation commission. The commission then voted on whether to accredit, defer, or deny the agency’s application. Among the department personnel who represented the department during the review were Fire Chief Amy Scheller, Deputy Fire Chief Martin FitzPatrick, Battalion Chief/ Accreditation Manager Josh Knepper, EMS Bureau Chief Sam Janecke, Dubuque Professional Firefighters Local 25 Union President Will Sullivan, and City Manager Mike Van Milligen.

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 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.

The CFAI accreditation process follows the holistic scope of the agency self-assessment model. Steps in the process include conducting a community risk assessment, developing standards of cover, establishing a community-driven strategic plan, and self-assessing all segments of the fire department. Departments must identify 11 categories of proficiency, which encompass the full span of fire and emergency service operations:

• Governance and administration
• Assessment and planning
• Goals and objectives
• Financial resources
• Community risk reduction programs
• Physical resources
• Human resources
• Training and competency
• Essential resources
• External systems relationship
• Health and safety

Additional information about CFAI’s accreditation process can be found at CPSE.org/Accreditation