Best Practices

The Texas Fire Chiefs Association (TFCA) has developed a Best Practices program to encourage fire departments in Texas to seek continual improvement in their services to their local community.

There are twelve chapters which define best practices in the typical service areas provided by a fire department. This program is applicable to paid, combination, and volunteer fire organizations.

The TFCA encourages fire departments to pursue this third-party designation by completing the performance requirements outlined in the program.  This will be a challenging but worthwhile endeavor for organizations pursuing this designation.

The TFCA further encourages fire departments to pursue accreditation through the Center for Public Safety Excellence. The TFCA Best Practices program will help facilitate progress toward national accreditation for those seeking this designation.

The TFCA worked closely with progressive fire officers throughout Texas to create a program that defines a pathway to organizational excellence which ultimately enhances firefighter safety, long-term planning, standard operating guidelines, deployment analysis, risk management, and other administrative functions. While most communities believe their local fire department is excellent, elected officials, city managers, fire chiefs and citizens have the opportunity to verify this belief by their fire department attaining this best practices designation. It is always preferred that an independent third party determine if an organization functions at a defined level of excellence.

The TFCA Best Practices program provides a pathway for a fire department to push its level of service to a status of excellence that is validated by independent experts. This designation will demonstrate to customers of these organizations that their fire department is among the very best in the Texas fire service.