The City of Vista Fire Department has received Reaccredited 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 Vista Fire Department is one of more than 250 agencies to achieve Internationally Accredited Agency status with the CFAI and the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE). Vista is the only civilian fire department in the County of San Diego to have accredited status.
“It gives us great pride and confidence in our fire department knowing that they embrace a continuous comprehensive assessment process,” said Mayor Judy Ritter. “This reaccreditation status is a very impressive achievement by the men and women of our fire department and demonstrates their quality and professionalism in providing the highest quality of service to our community.”
CFAI is dedicated to assisting the fire and emergency service agencies throughout the world in achieving excellence through self-assessment and accreditation in order 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.
“After months of thorough preparation, we are pleased to have received this international reaccreditation status,” stated Vista Fire Chief Ned Vander Pol. “The achievement of Accredited Agency status demonstrates our Fire Department’s commitment on continuous improvement in order to provide a superior quality of services to our public. To know that we have been evaluated against the national standards and internationally recognized best management practices, demonstrates that our fire department is among the most professional of agencies. We will continue to use the CFAI’s process as a proactive mechanism to plan for the future of the department and locate areas where we can improve on the quality of the services we provide.”
The accreditation process will help the Vista Fire Department to better understand community risks and fire safety needs and to more accurately evaluate performance.
“We are very proud to have retained our accreditation and of the work Chief Vander Pol and his team have completed preparing for this process, while still providing ongoing excellent service to our communities daily,” said City Manager Patrick Johnson. “This accreditation is a signature part of our City’s fire services and establishes that our fire department continues evaluating and identifying strengths and areas for improvement to ensure the safest possible outcomes for those living, working, and visiting the city of Vista.”
The Vista Fire Department is required to file annual compliance reports and renew the accreditation process every five years. The fire department first received accreditation in 2010 and reaccreditation status in 2015.
