By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The Alabaster Fire Department will work over the next several months to strengthen everything from emergency response to community outreach and training after the department recently finalized its five-year comprehensive plan.

After holding sessions to gather input from the public and fire department employees, the department compiled its strategic plan outlining goals for 2016-2021.

“Our goal with this is to establish a roadmap for the department’s future, and to ensure our future is based on analytics and data and projections of growth for the city,” Fire Chief Jim Golden said during a June 24 phone interview.

The establishment of a five-year comprehensive plan is a step in the department’s efforts to become the first accredited municipal fire department in Alabama.

Golden said gathering input from the city’s residents and business owners was a key part of formulating the plan.

“It was very important for us to have that community stakeholder meeting. A central component of this had to be getting input from the people we serve,” Golden said, noting about 60 members of the public attended the January meeting. “The feedback we got was so valuable because it shows us what the community expects of us.”

Following the community input meeting, the department held several internal meetings to gather input from its employees.

From there, the department outlined seven goals it will work on over the next few weeks, months and years. Golden said he established work groups within the department to address each goal, and said each goal has a timeline for completion.

The department’s seven major goals are as follows:

-Develop a physical resources plan to maintain and improve emergency response delivery.

-Maintain a workforce commensurate with the mission of the Alabaster Fire Department.

-Enhance and implement community outreach and increase public awareness.

-Provide the highest level quality emergency medical services to the community.

-Provide a quality training and education program.

-Enhance customer service and procedures of the Planning and Safety Division.

-Prepare for, pursue, achieve and maintain international accreditation.

“I think the strategic plan will serve us very well,” Golden said. “The city is continuing to grow, and there are a lot of changes the city will go through in the future. We want to be proactive in planning for that.”

To view the entire plan, visit Cityofalabaster.com/departments/fire-department/ and click the “Strategic plan” link on the left side of the site.