The Administration group administers the day-to-day activities of the Fire Department as it interacts with the public, Town departments, other governmental agencies, and the media. Administration prepares and administers the annual budget and reviews and revises current service levels. Finally, the Administration group manages the Town’s Insurance Services Office (ISO) public protection rating and its international accreditation status through the commission on Fire Accreditation International.

The Town of Cary Fire Department is an ISO Class 1, internationally accredited fire department. The department improved its ISO rating from a Class 3 to a Class 1 in 2015 and maintained that rating at its last evaluation in 2020.

Insurance Services Office (ISO) collects information on municipal fire-protection efforts in communities throughout the United States. In each of those communities, ISO analyzes the relevant data using its Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS). It then assigns a Public Protection Classification from 1 to 10. Class 1 generally represents superior property fire protection, and Class 10 indicates that the area's fire-suppression program doesn't meet ISO’s minimum criteria. The Cary Fire Department’s ISO rating is a Class 1.

By classifying communities' ability to suppress fires, ISO helps the communities evaluate their public fire-protection services. The program provides an objective, countrywide standard that helps fire departments in planning and budgeting for facilities, equipment, and training. And by securing lower fire insurance premiums for communities with better public protection, the PPC program provides incentives and rewards for communities that choose to improve their firefighting services.

ISO has extensive information on more than 49,000 fire-response jurisdictions.

Accreditation

The Cary Fire Department is an accredited agency with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI).

Accreditation is a comprehensive self-assessment and evaluation model that allows organizations to examine past, current, and future service levels and internal performance and compare them with industry best practices. This process leads to improved service delivery.

CFAI Accreditation Benefits

The Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) comprehensive self-assessment process promotes excellence and encourages quality improvement by enabling fire and EMS agencies to:

• assure colleagues and the public that they have definite missions and objectives that are appropriate for the jurisdictions they serve
• provide a detailed evaluation of the services they provide to the community
• identify areas of strength and weakness within the department
• create methods or systems for addressing deficiencies while building organizational success
• encourage professional growth for both the department and its personnel
• provide a forum for the communication of organizational priorities
• foster national recognition by colleagues and the public
• create a mechanism for developing strategic and program action plans