Mt. Lebanon Fire Department has achieved Accredited Agency Status from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI). CFAI is dedicated to assisting fire and emergency service agencies achieve organizational and professional excellence.

Mt. Lebanon is one of only 160 fire agencies in the United States and Canada to achieve this elite status, recognized worldwide as a measure of excellence. The accreditation is the result of six years of effort by Fire Chief Nick Sohyda and the department’s career and volunteer staff.

“This achievement validates our commitment to continuous improvement and superior service delivery in a highly efficient and cost effective manner,” Sohyda said. “To know we were evaluated against national standards and internationally recognized best management practices should assure residents that our department is among the most professional in the country.”

Becoming accredited involved extensive goal setting, self-evaluation and data collection. It also required a four-day on-site inspection last July by an independent CFAI Peer Assessment Team that evaluated the department’s compliance with more than 250 performance indicators. To maintain accreditation, the department will need to file annual reports with the CFAI for the next five years, at which time it will have to repeat the entire process.