EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND ICS:

Incident Management Team Training Overview

America's response to domestic disasters, both natural and human-caused has changed drastically since September 11, 2001.

The Secretary of Homeland Security was directed in Homeland Security  Presidential Directive No. 5 to develop the National Incident Management/System (NIMS) in order to provide "a consistent, nationwide approach to domestic incident management that is applicable to all jurisdictional  levels across functional disciplines in an all-hazards context."

The NIMS prescribes the use of the Incident Command System (ICS) for on-scene inci­dent management as well as off-scene coordination systems.

All  federal agencies are required to be NIMS-compliant; state and local  agencies recognize that their federal preparedness assistance funds are  dependent upon their NIMS compliance.

The NIMS is a direct  offspring of the National Interagency Incident Management System  (NIIMS), a disaster management system that was developed in the early  1970s.

The NIIMS was adopted as the standard system for the five  federal wildland fire agencies in the mid 1980s and has since been used exclusively for all-hazard responses by national and regional incident  management teams (IMT).

OQA's Associates have a combined total of  over 360 years experience including the original development of the NIIMS, active participation as commanders and staff of IMT and Area Command Teams on domestic disasters, and the development and instruction of regional and national training courses.

We have participated in the development of the newer all-hazard NIMS/ICS classes at the National Fire Academy.

Presentation

OQA  can assess current operating conditions, provide advice for improving  efficiencies, assist with NIMS compliance, and provide IMT and position specific DHS and NWCG training. Most OQA Associates are members of IMTs and Area Command Teams, so programs and training are based on real-world  experience and are customized to each client's needs. We provide  clients with proven methods and tools for success.

OQA has worked  with states and counties providing training and mentoring for the  development and improvement of Emergency Coordination Centers in order  to bring them into compliance with NIMS.