Achieving the Highest Fire-Service Standards
C
redibility is an essential component of a professional fire service. The Cedar Rapids Fire Department is committed to identifying the risk and safety needs of the community, evaluating department performance, and establishing methods for achieving continuous improvement. Achieving accreditation from the Center for Public Safety Excellence and the Commission on Fire Accreditation in addition to an improved Insurance Service Office (ISO) rating are two major ways the Fire Department has met the highest
standards in efficiency, technology, equipment, policies, and procedures. The in-depth operational analysis required for accreditation helped the Fire Department improve service delivery. Because of the analysis, fire apparatus are now regularly repositioned when there is a major fire and fire companies are dispatched to other fire districts within the city. For example, if four or five companies respond to the west side of town for a structure fire, then an east side company will need to reposition itself to a central or west location to make sure there is not an extended response time for simultaneous or subsequent events. The Department also assessed high volume users, evaluating certain medical patients and the impact that they had on the system in particular. Data collected about the number of calls and types of needs required of each call was used to communicate with home health agencies and Department of Health agencies to deliver long-term solutions that improve a patient’s quality of life. For instance, if there are multiple emergency calls from someone who keeps falling, firefighters can flag the data and report it to the proper agency to ensure the home has slip guards and bathroom handles to reduce fall risks. Finding a solution and improving patient care also results in fewer calls.
While accreditation is a peer review with adherence to fire industry best practices, the Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating is conducted by a for-profit agency to determine property insurance costs. Nevertheless, ISO is still compiling industry best practices and providing a review of independent standards. The City of Cedar Rapids moved to an ISO score of “two” on June 1, 2018. An evaluation of the City’s water supply, emergency communications system, fire department personnel, capabilities, training and equipment, and community risk reduction programming all factor into the ISO fire rating. After analyzing the data it collects, the ISO assigns a Public Protection Classification (PPC) on a scale from one to ten. The higher the ISO fire protection class (with Class 1 being the best), the “better” the department is in the eyes of the ISO. According to City Manager Jeff Pomeranz, “Professionalism, adequate training and equipment, proper preparedness and planning, and identification and mitigation of community risks are benchmarks of an excellent fire department and this has been validated by both accreditation and the high ISO rating.”
Cedar Rapids named #38 in the ranking of Safest Cities in America 2021 - WalletHub
The Parks and Recreation Department will apply for accreditation through the National Recreation and Parks Association’s Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA) this spring. The accreditation measures parks and recreation agencies quality of operation, management, and service to the community. It signifies that Cedar Rapids is using best management practices in providing park and recreation services. The Department hopes to be accredited in the fall of 2021.
The Public Works Department is pursuing accreditation through the American Public Works Association. This voluntary self-assessment will review, revise, and strengthen internal policies and procedures, following industry standards and best practices from around the nation. Accreditation will serve to verify and recognize that Cedar Rapids Public Works has a culture of continuous improvement, institutional knowledge retention, a central location for documentation, increased efficiencies, and successful staff development. The Department aims to achieve accreditation in early 2022.
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