OSFM Strategic Plan

In January 2018, State Fire Marshal Matt Perez determined that an agency strategic plan be listed as a priority task item. Throughout the spring and summer of 2018, an executive team consisting of the State Fire Marshal, Deputy Director, Chief of Administration, Chief of Operations, and the Special Projects Manager met to consider our operational environment, appropriate platforms, and logistics to effectuate the creation of an agency strategic plan. On September 24, 2018, the executive team convened a meeting with all agency division managers for the specific purpose of discussing a series of strategic planning sessions that were scheduled for the month of October 2018. During that initial meeting, agency managers were provided with a brief overview of the strategic planning process. They were also instructed regarding the use of certain resource management and planning tools that could assist them with identifying their respective goals and objectives. They were also provided with agency strategic planning templates. At the conclusion of that meeting, agency managers were directed to meet with their subordinates and identify those strategic goals and objectives that they deemed proper for discussion during the October strategic planning sessions. Each agency manager was encouraged to conduct a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis as part of their procedure.

OSFM strategic planning meetings were conducted on October 9, 2018 through October 10, 2018, and again on October 22, 2018 through October 23, 2018. These sessions were held offsite at the Illinois Emergency Management Agency headquarters building located in Springfield, Illinois. Colonel Royal Mortenson, Director of the Illinois Fire Service Institute (USMC retired) served as the moderator at the October 9, 2018 meeting. During all of the sessions, each division manager presented his or her strategic goals and objectives for peer review. All of the presentations and tangibles received were gathered at the conclusion of the meetings.

On October 30, 2018, the executive team met and discussed the information gleaned from the strategic planning sessions. At the conclusion of that meeting the State Fire Marshal directed that the information received be translated into a formal strategic planning document for review by the executive team and all division managers.

The draft document was prepared, submitted to the executive team for preliminary review, and released to the division managers for additional feedback on November 29, 2018. All of the responses and comments received from the agency division managers were considered by the executive team and the State Fire Marshal, and factored into the final draft.

The State Fire Marshal officially published the agency’s strategic plan on December 14, 2018. 

View the 21-page document: Office of the State Fire Marshal Strategic Plan (2019-2029).