City of Morgan Hill Public Safety Master Plan

CAL FIRE appears very proficient in the management and execution of its fire preplanning process. Engine companies are assigned specific occupancies for inspection and re-inspection. Crews work directly with the Fire Marshal and proper recordkeeping is maintained. There are limited fire preplanning activities occurring in the SSCCFD. This is primarily a by-product of the limited number of occupancies that would necessitate fire preplans and the limited oversight and requirement of these activities in the cooperative agreement with the District as compared with the City. Morgan Hill specifically requires fire preplanning as a component of its agreement.

ACCREDITATION

Accreditation is a comprehensive self-assessment and evaluation model that enables organizations to examine past, current, and future service levels. It is used to evaluate internal performance and compares this performance to industry best practices. The intent of the process is to improve service delivery. The Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE) provides an extensive evaluation process, on a fee basis, to member agencies and which ultimately leads to accreditation. CPSE is governed by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI), an 11-member commission representing a cross-section of the fire service, including fire departments, city and county management, code councils, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the International Association of Firefighters.

The CPSE Accreditation Program is built around the following key measurements:

■ Determine community risk and safety needs.

■ Evaluate the performance of the department.

■ Establish a method for achieving continuous organizational improvement.

Local government executives face increasing pressure to "do more with less" and justify expenditures by demonstrating a direct link to improved or measured service outcomes. Particularly for emergency services, local officials need criteria to assess professional performance and efficiency. CPSE accreditation has national recognition and is widely used throughout the fire service. The key to its success is that it allows communities to set their own standards that are reflective of their needs and a service delivery model that is specific to their needs. In addition, it is a program that is based on ongoing improvement and continuous monitoring. The CPSE accreditation model may be well suited for Morgan Hill and SSCCFD.

Recommendation: Morgan Hill and SSCCFD should consider CPSE fire accreditation in the future.

The current interrelationship between Morgan Hill and SSCCFD in the co-utilization of CAL FIRE in providing fire, EMS, and prevention services would benefit greatly if a joint accreditation process was conducted. Accreditation, CPSM believes, would facilitate this effort and further orchestrate the ongoing cooperative efforts.

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