The Mobile Fire-Rescue Department announced Friday that it is now the first fire department in the state to be awarded the “Gold Standard” Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) accreditation.

The designation also makes MFRD one of only four ambulance services in the state and the only EMS service in the region to receive the accreditation. NorthStar Emergency Medical Services in Tuscaloosa, Huntsville Emergency Medical Services, Inc. (HEMSI) in Huntsville and Regional Paramedical Services in Jasper are the only other providers in the state with the accreditation.

MFRD is now among the top 1% of fire departments in the United States, officials say. Only 185 emergency medical service providers out of the 18,200 EMS providers in the U.S. are CAAS accredited, and only 25 of those are fire departments.

“We’re operating at the gold standard,” Fire Chief Jeremy Lami says. “People can rest assured that, when we show up, they’re getting the highest level of care.”

This accreditation is particularly important, Lami says, because 85% of the department’s operations are EMS calls and not related to fire.