The Grand Rapids Fire Department achieved reaccreditation through 2031 from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International, involving self-assessment, documentation, onsite peer evaluations and a hearing.
“Basically top to bottom of what we do as a fire department.”
Edward Braman is the Assistant Chief.
“They analyze everything from how we run our alarms to our dispatching to our policies, our procedures, and it is a full on external deep dive into the operations and the administration of the Grand Rapids Fire Department.”
The evaluation team provided 18 recommendations for continued improvement over the next five years.
Braman notes the overarching theme was how to become more outcome-focused.
“We can give the quantitative data around how long it takes us to get to a fire or a medical. But what did it look like when we got there? How many people were impacted by this? How many pets? That has an impact to our community.”
The achievement aligns with the department’s strategic plan and its vision to make Grand Rapids the safest mid-sized city in the United States.
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