A four-member CFAI Assessment Team completed a weeklong site visit to MDFR, while another two team members conducted remote interviews to validate whether the MDFR meets a nationally-accepted set of best practices by which a community can judge the level and quality of fire, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and other services provided.

The team's recommendation for reaccreditation reaffirms that MDFR employs the most current state-of-the-art practices in reducing fire and EMS risks, thereby delivering excellence every day to the residents and visitors of Miami-Dade County. Additionally, the CFAI accreditation process also provides agencies with an internationally-recognized and distinct self-assessment model for each agency to be able to evaluate the quality of their services to see how well their mission, goals, objectives and resource allocations measure up in order to meet the needs in their respective jurisdictions.

"Receiving the reaccreditation recommendation is a very proud moment for our Department," said MDFR Fire Chief Alan Cominsky. "This recommendation comes after the accreditation team experienced first-hand the hard work and dedication to service our employees bring forth every day. I am very proud of our employees and I'd like to thank the Assessment Team who took the time to be here with us and walk us through this process."

The Assessment Team, MDFR and Miami-Dade County Management officials will appear before the CFAI in March 2021 to receive final approval. If reaccredited, MDFR will remain the largest accredited fire-rescue department in the Southeast and second largest in the Nation. MDFR is one of only 280 fire departments accredited in North America, a continent with over 30,000 fire departments in the United States and another 6,000 in Canada alone. This is MDFR’s third accreditation cycle, initially receiving CFAI Accreditation in 2010. The process must be completed every five years.