Orange County Fire Authority Receives Accreditation

The Orange County Fire Authority is one of the largest fire departments in the nation, and it has become one of about 300 nationwide to be approved by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) board.

The OCFA received accreditation by unanimous vote of the CFAI.

The CFAI representatives—a team of fire industry experts—concluded their peer assessment of the OCFA in which they reviewed 200 different areas. The OCFA joins an elite group of approximately 300 fire departments in the nation that are on the list.

The OCFA is one of 11 fire departments in California and the second largest in the nation to receive this honor.

Rancho Santa Margarita is one of the communities in Orange County that is served by the OCFA.

“This is an achievement that we can all be extremely proud of and is the culmination of over two years of collective work,” said OCFA Fire Chief Keith Richter. “The CFAI accreditation process allowed the OCFA to compare its practices with the best in the industry and focus our attention on areas that we can improve.”

The accreditation process is a comprehensive self-assessment and evaluation that enables fire and emergency service organizations to examine past, current, and future service levels and compare them to industry best practices. This process will ultimately help OCFA in improving its service to Orange County.

This process leads to improved service delivery by helping fire departments determine community risk and safety needs, evaluate the performance of the department, and establish a method for achieving continuous organizational improvement.