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Grissom Fire Department accredited by CFAI

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Dakota Bergl
  • 434th ARW Public Affairs
GRISSOM AIR RESE4RVE BASE, Ind. --  The Grissom Fire Department recently became one of only 26 departments in the Air Force to receive Accredited Agency status from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International.

The accreditation was achieved after a five year process during which the fire department had to meet the highest international standards in 252 training and logistic indicators.

John Ireland, Grissom Fire Department fire chief, expressed his pride in his employees for making the accreditation possible through diligence and hard work.

“I’m proud of everyone for the hard work they put in to make this happen,” said Ireland. “We had every aspect of our department evaluated and if we didn’t have such a great team we wouldn’t have gotten this accreditation.”

The CFAI process is voluntary and provides an agency with an improvement model designed to assess their performance internally. After years of preparation the final step in the accreditation process is a peer assessment performed by a team from departments around the country selected by CFAI to spend time onsite and make first person assessments of the fire department’s performance and capabilities.

Christian Jacobs, Grissom Fire Department accreditation manager, said that although the amount of time and effort required for the accreditation process was daunting it is worth it for the experience and insight it provided.

“We put in about 1,100 man hours to make this accreditation happen,” said Jacobs. “It was worth the time to be recognized as one of the best fire departments in the Air Force and the country. It really makes us stand out and shows how dedicated our people are to being the best at their jobs.”

The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. Men and women from the Hoosier Wing routinely deploy around the world in support of the Air Force mission.

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Public Affairs Staff

Material contained on the Official Grissom Air Reserve Base Internet Web Site is written and produced by members of the 434th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs Office. The award-winning staff includes:

Ben Mota
Chief, public affairs

Maj. Elias Zani
Public affairs officer

Master Sgt. Wendy Day
Staff writer

Tech. Sgt. Alexa Culbert
Staff writer

Senior Airman Elise Faurote
Staff writer

Senior Airman Benjamin Cowles
Staff writer