Columbus Fire and Rescue Magazine Volume 4 Numer 2 | Page 30

accreditation ACCREDITATION ONE YEAR LATER O On March 11, 2014 Columbus Fire and Rescue (CFR) became the first fire department in Mississippi to become accredited. While accreditation represented a significant accomplishment for the department, what impact has accreditation made? CFR has been able to improve its services in serval areas that have resulted in making the community and the department safer. First, the department identified areas in the city where the response time was above our response goals. The department adjusted station response districts and was able to lower response time of initial units by 3 to 4 minutes. What does this time mean? During a heart attack, the American Heart Association recognizes that for every minute in delayed critical care intervention (CPR and the use of an automatic external defibrillator), a person's chance for survival decreases by 10 percent. By adjusting these districts, we have increased an individual's chances of surviving a heart attack by 30 to 40 percent. EMS incidents. Once identified, the department will be able to develop and implement fire and injury prevention programs aimed towards reducing these risks in targeted, highrisk areas. Finally, the department now establishes Rapid Intervention Teams, implemented the use of an accountability system, and requires an incident safety officer during structure fires. These changes were the result of implementing critical tasking (staffing) levels needed for each incident type. Each of these changes has significantly improved firefighter safety. Accreditation has made a positive impact within the community and the department. While these improvements are a good start, Second, the department is currently in the much work remains. To learn more about process of relocating and building Station 4. accreditation and its impact, I encourage each Using data analysis, CFR was able to select of you to visit the department's website. the best possible location for this station to effectively serve the community. Third, CFR by ACCREDITATION MANAGER/CAPTAIN mikeCHANDLER is implementing processes used to identify [email protected] specific causes and locations of fire and 30 l COLUMBUS FIRE and RESCUE MAGAZINE l [phone]