|
The National Incident Management System is a critical component of national, state, and local preparedness. This page has been developed based on guidelines from the N.I.M.S. Integration Center, National Association of Counties, and International Association of Emergency Managers to assist local organizations meet compliancy and improve the safety and security of our nation. |
|
National Incident Management System (N.I.M.S.) |
|
Osceola County Emergency Management (231) 832-6172 P.O.Box 25, Reed City MI. 49677 www.osceolacountyemd.org |
|
Letter From The Emergency Management Director
Dear Community Official,
On February 28, 2003, the President issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)–5, Management of Domestic Incidents, which directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop and administer a National Inci dent Management System (NIMS). This system provides a consistent nationwide template to enable Federal, State, local, and tribal governments and private-sector and nongovernmental organizations to work together effectively and efficiently to prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents, regardless of cause, size, or complexity, including acts of terrorism. Many county agencies throughout the U.S. have been using a system of organizing emergency preparedness and response for years, as such systems were built initially on wildland fire response, and have grown to encompass all hazards, natural or human-caused. This integrated approach to incident management is now called “NIMS”. Knowing how community agencies – including Fire, Police/Sheriff, Emergency Management/Homeland Secu rity, Public Health, Transportation, Public Works, Utilities, Schools, and so forth – need to work together when an emergency occurs, as well as how they may work with neighboring jurisdictions, state, and federal resources – is what NIMS is all about. This web-page will help you, as a community official, understand what NIMS is and guide you through the critical NIMS implementation steps that will help us in working together to ensure the safety and security of Osceola County.
-Mark Watkins, Director Osceola County Emergency Management
|
|
What Is N.I.M.S.? The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is a comprehensive national approach to incident management, applicable at all jurisdictional levels and across functional disciplines. NIMS provides a consistent nationwide approach for federal, state, tribal entities, local governments, and private and non-governmental organizations to work effectively and efficiently together to prepare for, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents, regardless of cause, size, or complexity. NIMS is the outgrowth of systems developed and implemented by dedicated responders over many years, and its design and approach was developed by those who use these systems everyday.
|
|
Why Do I Need To Be Concerned About N.I.M.S.? NIMS is the foundation of federal, state, and local incident management. Responders from your community or agency may be involved in providing or receiving mutual aid during response to large-scale emergencies. They use an Incident Command System (ICS) to organize response to emergencies. ICS is a part of NIMS. NIMS provides the method by which people, and the resources needed to effect a response, are coordinated. You need to learn about NIMS because this is the method that the responders in your county use to respond to emergencies and disasters. Federal preparedness, disaster, and safety related grants require NIMS compliancy. Federal preparedness assistance is contingent on your agency’s compliance with NIMS. This assistance includes federal funding from the DHS Emergency Management Performance Grants (EMPG), Homeland Security Grant Program and Urban Area Security Initiative. That means that if your agency wants to be eligible to receive federal funds for preparedness activities which includes nearly 50 different programs from more than 25 federal departments and agencies, your agency must be able to certify that it has complied with the requirements of NIMS applicable to your applicable emergency role. (A current list of federal preparedness funding from all programs and agencies can be found at www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/index.shtm) NIMS is a national, state, and local standards. Various authoritative references and actions have set precedence for NIMS being implemented by government, public, and private entities. These include County, Township, and municipality resolutions as well as NFPA standards and MIOSHA requirements that have established utilizing NIMS as the standard for incident management and implementing it as a basic component to your organization.
|
|
What Does N.I.M.S. Compliancy Mean? It is important to note that the majority of N.I.M.S. compliancy measures will be implemented at the county level by the Emergency Management Department that will require fairly minor implementation steps by other local entities. County level actions meeting compliance include: 1) Adopting N.I.M.S. by local resolution as the jurisdiction’s all-hazard incident management system 2) Officially appointing a community N.I.M.S. Coordinator Implementing N.I.M.S. into the jurisdiction’s emergency plan and procedures, including institutionalizing the use of the Incident Command System 3) Reporting N.I.M.S. compliancy progress and activity via the NIMSCAST assessment tool annually 4) Successfully completing required N.I.M.S. training to county personnel 5) Promoting N.I.M.S. compliancy efforts to other government, public, and private entities
Osceola County passed the county N.I.M.S. Resolution in September 2005, officially appointing the Emergency Management Director as the jurisdiction’s N.I.M.S. Coordinator. By October 2005, OCEMD had completed its first NIMSCAST baseline report and included the basic requirements into the Osceola County Emergency Plan. Since then, OCEMD has been promoting N.I.M.S. adoption by local township, city, and village governments as well as individual agencies through resolution and/or policy. Regular ongoing training courses have been conducted for numerous agencies and will continue until full compliancy is met. Annual results are reported to the State and Federal Government via the NIMSCAST.
|
|
How Does My Organization Become N.I.M.S. Compliant? Individual agency compliancy requirements mirror, or extend, the County’s efforts. However, the following steps are recommended by the Emergency Management Department at this time:
#1 - Officially adopt N.I.M.S. via resolution (for government entities) or executive policy (for agencies). The nationally accepted template is available from the Emergency Management Department. #2 - Appoint a N.I.M.S. Manager for your organization to facilitate N.I.M.S. compliancy efforts and maintain activity records #3 - Begin to manage appropriate personnel to complete N.I.M.S. related training certification courses. For most personnel, this will include completing brief online courses including IS700 NIMS Orientation and IS800 NRP Orientation. For emergency response personnel, completion of more involved ICS100 & ICS200 courses will be necessary. For personnel with significant emergency response duties, completion of advanced field instruction will be necessary, including ICS300 and ICS400 courses (16 hours each). See Below For Training Guidelines. #4 - As periodic policy updates occur, ensure that N.I.M.S. is referred to as baseline guidance for emergency response related policies, especially those applying to incident command. Modify and maintain as necessary. #5 - Report your progress to the Emergency Management Department annually, preferably September, to facilitate accurate reporting into the NIMSCAST
|
|
Osceola County Training Guidelines For most organizations, the biggest N.I.M.S. implementation challenge that they will face will be that of meeting training requirements. Due to the scope of N.I.M.S., there is a high level of confusion about who should take what courses according to their role. Osceola County Emergency Management is currently defining N.I.M.S. requirements according to DHS guidelines based on the agency roles identified in the local emergency plan. The following provides course summaries and recommendations for guidance.
N.I.M.S. COURSE SUMMARY · IS700 N.I.M.S. Orientation - This course provides an overview of N.I.M.S. and its components for basic awareness. It is critical that even those not directly implementing or involved with emergency response be aware of N.I.M.S. concepts as to meet the goal of ensuring that the nation’s critical personnel are at a common awareness of incident management principles. · IS800 N.R.P. Orientation - This course provides an overview of the National Response Plan and how federal, state, local disaster preparedness is met through response. It is critical that government leaders responsible for coordinating disaster aid for their citizenry understand how this process occurs to adequately develop local emergency response plans. · IS100 ICS for Single Resource Incidents - This course provides the basic information necessary to understand use of the incident command system for small, minor emergencies. For most citizens and agency employees, this is necessary due to site emergency plans or emergency responses that they are likely to be affected by (i.e. all businesses have a site safety plan that is likely to be coordinated via an ICS system). · IS200 ICS Basic Incident Command System - This course provides basic information to understand use of the incident command system for larger, multi-resource responses. This level is appropriate for those personnel that may have roles/responsibilities in a larger emergency response situations such as organizations with emergency roles that would require coordination amongst several agencies. · IS300 ICS Intermediate Course - This field course provides operational information for those having responsibilities with implementing ICS in the field including police, fire, ems, emergency management, or agency safety supervisors. · IS400 ICS Advanced Course - This field course provides operational information for those having extraordinary responsibilities for implementing ICS in situations that could be multi-jurisdictional emergencies and/or disasters.
MINIMUM AWARENESS LEVEL (Government Officials, Citizens, Policy Makers who govern responders) · IS700 N.I.M.S. Orientation · IS800a N.R.P. Orientation ENTRY LEVEL RESPONDERS (Officials who likely interface with ICS & or who would benefit in use of ICS) · IS700 N.I.M.S. Orientation · IS100 ICS For Single Resource Incidents* FIRST LINE SUPERVISORS (Emergency Response / Agency Officials who regularly respond using ICS) · IS700 N.I.M.S. Orientation · IS800a N.R.P. Orientation · IS100 ICS For Single Resource Incidents* · IS200 ICS Basic Incident Command System* MIDDLE MANAGEMENT (Emergency Response / Agency Officials responsible for managing ICS in major incidents) · IS700 N.I.M.S. Orientation · IS800a N.R.P. Orientation · IS100 ICS For Single Resource Incidents * · IS200 ICS Basic Incident Command System * · ICS300 Intermediate Incident Command System COMMAND & GENERAL STAFF (Emergency Response / Agency Officials responsible for leading ICS in major incidents) · IS700 N.I.M.S. Orientation · IS800a N.R.P. Orientation · IS100 ICS For Single Resource Incidents * · IS200 ICS Basic Incident Command System * · ICS300 Intermediate Incident Command System · ICS400 Advanced Incident Command System AUDIENCE SPECIFIC COURSES (E.O.C. Staff, Specific Audiences) These training courses are specific to unique positions within the Incident Management System · For EOC (Emergency Operations Center) Officials: IS701 N.I.M.S. Multi-Agency Coordination Centers · For agency Public Information Officials / Spokespersons: IS702 N.I.M.S. Joint Information System · For EOC (Emergency Operations Center) Officials: IS702 N.I.M.S. Resource Management
|
|
N.I.M.S. Guidance In addition to Osceola County Emergency Management assistance, the following links and documents are provided to help guide officials in implementation of N.I.M.S.
Michigan State Police Emergency Management & Homeland Security N.I.M.S. page N.I.M.S. Informational Brochure
|
|
N.I.M.S. Training Links Most of the basic N.I.M.S. training courses are available online through FEMA’s Independent Study course. The following links to their main page as well as the individual training courses.
N.I.M.S. Training Course Overview IS100 ICS For Single Resource Incidents ICS300 Intermediate and ICS400 Advanced Incident Command Course Announcements IS701 N.I.M.S. Multi-Agency Coordination Centers IS702 N.I.M.S. Joint Information Systems IS703 N.I.M.S. Resource Management
|
|
Other Notes * The 16 hour Unified Incident Command Course as delivered by the MSP-EMHSD or Emergency Management Officials continues to be recognized as meeting ICS100 and ICS200 requirements. However, this course does not appear on FEMA’s national training registry as it does not come through their training systems. Those individuals having taken UICS should make it a priority to retain their certificates for proof of compliancy.
|
|
Updated January 19th, 2009 |
|
SITE MENU ———-- ———— ———— ———— ———— ———— ———— ———— Links |