Loveland Fire Rescue Authority Awarded International Reaccreditation Status

Loveland Fire Rescue Authority (LFRA) has earned Accredited Agency status with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) for meeting the criteria established through the CFAI’s accreditation program. By earning reaccreditation status, Loveland Fire Rescue Authority joins just over 300 fire departments throughout the world to achieve Internationally Accredited Agency status with the CFAI and the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE)

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 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.

Fire Chief Tim Sendelbach stated that the agency’s achievement of Accredited Agency status “demonstrates the dedication and commitment of the agency to provide the highest quality of service to our community.” Chief Sendelbach also said, “We have used the Commission on Fire Accreditation International’s process as a proactive mechanism to plan for the future and locate areas where we can improve on the quality of the services we provide.”

The accreditation process includes a detailed community risk assessment which identifies the level of risk throughout the department’s response area which is then aligned with a standard of cover document that spells out specifically how the department plans to respond to all forms of emergencies within their community including floods, wildfires, medical emergencies, etc. Once completed these documents are reviewed and validated by a peer assessment team through a series of interviews and an in-person site visit.

Chief Sendelbach summed up the experience by saying, “I’m incredibly proud of the hard work that has been put forth by the members of the LFRA. This recognition confirms our services and our plans for the future of LFRA are in line with national standards and best practices of the fire and emergency services.”

LFRA was first accredited by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International in 2016.