Quality Improvement for the Fire and Emergency Services Workshop

Burlington Fire Department, Burlington, NC

October 27 – 29, 2026

This course features three full days of instruction to help agencies prepare for accreditation under the 11th edition of the CFAI® model. It covers the development of the three key documents, the Community Risk Assessment/Standards of Cover, Strategic Plan, and Self-Assessment Manual.

WHAT YOU WILL RECEIVE:

• The Quality Improvement for the Fire and Emergency Services Publication & student workbook.
• 24 hours of instruction from experienced accreditation instructors.
• In-class exercises to reinforce key points of instruction.
• Introduction to online resources that will support your department’s accreditation efforts.
• Multiple opportunities to engage and network with your peers.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

• The steps in the self-assessment process, from building a team to becoming an accredited agency.
• The key elements of the accreditation process:
  1. Creating planning zones for your response area.
  2. Establishing a risk assessment process.
  3. Applying the risk assessment process to your response area.
  4. Developing a critical tasking process.
  5. Determine needed resources for fire and non-fire risks.
  6. Assess current deployment practices and establish target performance goals.
  7. Develop response performance data.
  8. Key elements of a Strategic Plan.
  9. How to create a self-assessment manual.

COST:

Early Registration: $650 – ends September 29

Regular Registration: $675

Registration closes: October 16, or until full, whichever occurs first.

*Onsite registration is not permitted*

To register, you must have a CPSE Portal account. Go here to create an account.

To register a group, contact university@cpse.org.

WORKSHOP TIME: 0800-1700 Daily

ATTIRE: Business Casual

WORKSHOP LOCATION: 

Impact Alamance

133 E Davis St

Burlington, NC 27215

AIRPORT LOCATION:

Piedmont Triad International Airport (36 miles)

Raleigh-Durham International Airport (46 miles)

HOST RECOMMENDED HOTEL INFORMATION:  

Drury Inn & Suites Burlington

1767 Glidewell Dr

Burlington, NC 27215

Website: Click here 

Hampton Inn & Suites Burlington

2935 Saconn Dr

Burlington, NC 27215

Website: Click here 

HOST AGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION:

Burlington Fire Department

PRIMARY CONTACT:

Paul Watlington, Assistant Chief

(O) 336-229-3568

pwatlington@burlingtonnc.gov 

SECONDARY CONTACT:

Daniel Shoffner, Battalion Chief

(O) 336-451-0448

dshoffner@burlingtonnc.gov 

All registration cancellation and refund requests must be submitted via email to university@cpse.org no later than two weeks prior to the start of the class. A refund request is subject to a $25 processing fee. Telephone cancellations will not be accepted. 

A substitution of your full registration is permitted up to three days prior to the start of the class. After this time, NO substitutions are allowed. Requests for substitution must be submitted via email to university@cpse.org.  

CPSE regrets that refunds will not be given for no-shows.

For questions, contact the CPSE office at university@cpse.org or 703-691-4620.