Fire department achieves Published June 12, 2015 By Kimberly Woodruff Staff Writer TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Tinker Fire and Emergency Services recently became the first fire department in Oklahoma to receive accreditation through the Commission on Fire Accreditation International. Installation Fire Chief Terry Ford said the recognition represents the work of a high-functioning team that is willing to go the extra mile in protecting Tinker. "Our emergency responders are constantly looking for ways to improve and achieve the Art of the Possible," he said. "The accreditation doesn't mean that we are better than any other fire department, it simply means we took the time to document our processes and made a commitment to self-improvement," said Deputy Chief James Bradley. "It was a goal we set four to five years ago, and we just achieved it in March." CFAI assists fire and emergency service agencies around the world in achieving organizational and professional excellence through its strategic self-assessment model and accreditation process. The process for a fire department to work toward CFAI accreditation involves four phases: self-assessment, community risk analysis, development of a "standard of cover" and strategic business plan. The self-assessment phase includes administration, human resources and finance, all supported with quantitative and qualitative documents. Community risk analysis is the evaluation of hazards and buildings in the area. Risks are classified and routinely updated to ensure progress is made on correcting deficiencies. The risk analysis is a tool in developing in-depth pre-incident plans for response as well as formulating strategies for correcting deficiencies. It folds into the current ground and fire safety programs to provide an extra measure of protection for our community. The "standard of cover" involves evaluating community demographics, the population and call processing and response times. Chief Bradley said Tinker's fourth fire station, Bldg. 7017 near housing, is a result of the data the department kept to show the amount of calls and the slower response time it took for someone to get over to housing on the west side from the flight line. Safety for the families in base housing is a priority for the base and the command, Chief Bradley said. Using the data from the standard of cover gave decision makers solid justification for the station and continues to improve metrics for fire response. Chief Ford noted the standard of cover process and the addition of Station 4 yielded significant improvements in his department's service delivery. "For the period ending December 2013, we were 80 percent compliant with benchmark response times for structural fires," he said. "Currently, we are 96 percent compliant, which exceeds the Air Force Standard of 90 percent." The strategic business plan identifies short, medium and long term goals and directly aligns with the strategic plan developed by the 72nd Air Base Wing. "Alignment of goals to our parent organization is vital in ensuring we are achieving the vision of the wing," said Chief Bradley, adding that the accreditation is a great planning tool because it allows them to identify areas that need improvement. "It standardizes processes across the industry, and now we use it for everything and can easily see where we need to make adjustments," he said. "There has been a 'buy in' on all levels of firefighters." International Association of Fire Fighters Local F-211 President Kevin Smith agreed. "Analyzing risk at the local level is an absolute necessity," he said. "Large, diverse installations like Tinker are few and have unique requirements for fire protection. The risk analysis model defines what we must prepare for; it's not a 'cookie cutter' approach to managing what we do, it's completely focused on the Tinker community."