Albuquerque Fire Rescue Awarded International Accreditation

ALBUQUERQUE- Albuquerque Fire Rescue (AFR) has received Accredited 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. Albuquerque Fire Rescue is one of 300 agencies, and only the second fire department in New Mexico, to achieve Internationally Accredited Agency status with the CFAI and the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE).

CFAI is dedicated to assisting 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 delivery of services and performance internally and then work with a team of peers from other agencies to evaluate their assessment.

“This recognition is the result of the hard work and dedication to excellence that our Fire Department, Chief Jaramillo, and their community partners do every day, digging in and finding ways to improve on their already stellar work,“ said Mayor Tim Keller.  “The men and women in this department are emblematic of our city’s commitment to public safety, providing quality fire and EMS services and ensuring the health and safety of the people of Albuquerque.”

“Accreditation demonstrates the commitment of Albuquerque Fire Rescue to provide the highest quality of service to our community,” said Chief Emily Jaramillo. “We have also been able to use the Commission’s process as a proactive mechanism to plan for the future and establishing independent appraisals to identify areas where we can improve on the quality of the services we provide.”

AFR also has an ISO Class 1 rating, indicating superior property fire protection for the community. The ISO is a national insurance engineering organization that assesses how well-protected a community is by their fire department. 

Over the last three years, Albuquerque Fire Rescue has been analyzing data and assessing services in the development of a Strategic Plan, Community Risk Assessment Standards of Cover, and the CFAI self-assessment. These assessments allow AFR to examine strengths and weaknesses and develop a plan to annually improve the services we provide.