FORT KNOX, Ky. — Fort Knox Garrison and Directorate of Emergency Services leaders received welcome news March 23 that their fire department had earned its second international accreditation since 2017 — the first Army installation to do so.
The Fort Knox team attended the 2022 Center for Public Safety Excellence Conference in Florida this week, and participated in the two-day hearing to make their case for reaccreditation. They watched in real time as members of the Commission of Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) voted on whether to approve their request.
Chief Steve Dirksen, Chief Fire Officer and the committee chair, called for discussion. None was offered, so he moved to a vote. After hearing all ayes and no nays, Dirksen turned to the Fort Knox team sitting in front of him: “Congratulations, Fort Knox.”
The Fort Knox Fire Department received its first accreditation in 2017, roughly five years after officials at the Department of Defense highly recommended that installation fire departments consider attaining to the standards.
Fort Knox Fire Department Chief Jay Schiedewitz said there was a moment when officials at Fort Knox decided to pursue accreditation.
“There was a lot of debate back and forth on where the benefits lie since we’re already heavily regulated,” said Schiedewitz. “But this opened the door to better serve the community in data collection and trends and analysis. When we broke it down to what the Center for Public Safety offered, it was much more stringent and thorough, and in the long run we figured it would help us better serve the community.”
Agreeing to pursue accreditation didn’t mean they were automatically ready to earn it, however.
“Our first time through it took us about two years to compose all the documentation that goes into a self-assessment manual,” said Fort Knox Deputy Chief Jason Lewis. “That manual goes through every component that pretty much makes up a fire department — from admin teams to central desktop computers.”
Along with the manual, the fire department is responsible for an annual compliance report, which must be submitted yearly to maintain their accreditation. Once accreditation has been achieved, said Lewis, the process starts over again for reaccreditation, which occurs every five years.
Fort Knox in 2017 became one of the first Army installations to achieve accreditation under the 9th edition of the Commission of Fire Accreditation International, and the first such installation this year to accomplish reaccreditation.
After applying for accreditation and submitting all the necessary paperwork, fire departments receive a site visit from a peer assessment team, which verifies and validates all the documentation, conducts interviews and meets with those who host the different programs. Upon the team’s recommendation, approved fire departments go before the CFAI committee, for a final look and to answer any questions.
Schiedewitz said the peer assessment team conducted the Fort Knox site visit Jan. 9-13.
There is a lot to gain for earning accreditation, according to Lewis.
“The benchmark for all of this is to continually improve,” said Lewis. “When you look at your self-assessment manual, you’re taking a snapshot of where you currently are.”
“So the short version of this is it’s a continuous improvement program to better serve the community,” added Schiedewitz. “And accreditation touches everything we do.”
The process includes over 230 performance indicators that fire departments must provide an adequate answer to, which include 40 critical tasks. Failure to accomplish even one of the critical tasks will end a department’s bid for accreditation.
Schiedewitz highlighted what is involved in achieving and maintaining accreditation.
“We are one of 10 in the Army, and one of three in the state of Kentucky, that are internationally accredited. It’s extremely difficult. It requires teamwork,” said Schiedewitz. “We have a total of 30 individuals divided up into teams that work on this throughout the whole year to stay accredited. That’s half the fire department that is actively involved.”
Fort Knox earned their bid to appear before the committee. During the March 23 hearing, Schiedewitz and Fort Knox Garrison Commander Col. Lance O’Bryan fielded a number of questions from committee members. One of those involved acknowledgement of the age of the fire stations, especially historic Fire Station 1, and the difficulty of storing equipment in them.
“We have no new stations. All of our stations are 50 to a hundred years old,” said Schiedewitz. “The challenge we have is many of the apparatuses no longer fit in them.”
Schiedewitz and O’Bryan confirmed that at least one station would require a new building, with another one undergoing renovations. Schiedewitz said earlier that these kinds of issues have been made easy through accreditation due to the way they now store information for quick retrieval.
“The DoD has now accepted this as their method to collect data and processes,” said Schiedewitz. “The benefits are enormous. It is so easy when the boss calls and says, ‘Hey, I need this information,’ I can pull it out of the [system] and send it within minutes.
“So if there are any DoD agencies out there considering this, I would highly recommend it; the benefits are huge.”
Social Sharing