Incident Management Courses

The National Incident Management (NIMS) is an emergency response system of protocol that was created to be used during the event of a national crisis. It allows multiple agencies, both private and governmental, in various jurisdictions to work together using a common hierarchy of command. The NIMS system is based on the Incident Command System (ICS) that was established in the 1970s after research suggested that the biggest problem during the event of a natural disaster or a terrorist attack was not a lack of resources or ineffective tactics, but rather a lack of coordination and useful communication.

After the NIMS structure was passed in 2004, emergency response training courses were beginning to be offered on the internet so that emergency workers can be certified under NIMS standards. The core curriculum consists of several training courses that are taken over the course of five years. The NIC, the organization that manages the courses, has a goal of spreading NIMS education and training for all emergency management and response efforts by individuals on a executive, managerial, or first-hand level. The courses, IS200: Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents and IS800: National Response Framework Introduction are detailed in this section.

IS200 Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents:
IS200 is a course that has been written and revised by the EMI to reflect changes due to lessons learned since its initial offering in 1996. It added concepts essential in the National Response Framework. The course meets the standards created from the NIMS federal standard, and it uses standards created by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, the United States Fire Administration, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Emergency Management Institute.

The main goal of IS200 is to give personnel the tools needed to operate efficiently as they are responding to a national crisis being run by the ICS. Training in IS200 is for personnel most likely to assume a supervising role within the Incident Command System. The prerequisite for IS200 is IS100a and the course takes approximately three hours to complete.

IS800 National Response Framework Introduction:
The Independent Study Program implemented IS800 in 2008. The course is designed to introduce emergency personnel to the key concepts of the National Response Framework. The objectives of the course includes:

* Why the National Response Framework was established;
* The response doctrine outlined by the National Response Framework;
* The National Response Framework roles and responsibilities of all entities within an emergency situation;
* What actions aid in a national response to a crisis;
* How multiagency coordination is established;
* How planning and national preparedness go hand-in-hand.
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Emergency response personnel intended for IS800 includes government executives, private sector nongovernmental organizations, and emergency management workers. People who take this course should be senior-level managers and leaders, such as agency heads, tribal leaders, and city or county officials. Any position with a great amount of responsibility in the event of a crisis should take IS800