By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Fire Chief Steven Beer is pleased with the hard work his staff did this week while The Center for Public Safety Excellence was in town looking at the department for accreditation.
"It's definitely a grueling, taxing process," Beer said. "At the end of the day, I think I asked everybody last night how you slept and finally everybody got a good night's sleep. People are pumped up in our agency, pretty excited. It's a big thing for Hutch and HFD."
The inspectors verify and validate everything the department is claiming to do.
"They really look at 11 different categories, from our governance and administration to assessment and planning, our goals and objectives, our finance, our community risk reduction programs," Beer said. "That even includes our physical resources, human resources, our training programs, the essential services that we provide and the risks associated that we deal with that are unique to Hutchinson and the health and safety. The final thing they really look at is our external relationships that we have with partners, whether it's in the city or in the county."
When the department is accredited, it will put them in rare company.
"It really puts that stamp of excellence on our agency," Beer said. "We are in a very elite category. There's only going to be roughly 100 departments in the world that have a Class 1 rating and are accredited."
The meeting where they go before the board will be in June or July.
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