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FEMA Releases NIMS Five Year Training Plan
On February 25, 2008, the National Integration Center (NIC) and the Incident Management Systems Integration (IMSI) Division released the National Incident Management System (NIMS): Five Year NIMS Training Plan. This document describes the operational foundations of the NIMS efforts, defines NIMS core competencies, training courses, and personnel qualifications as part of the National Training Plan for NIMS. It also assembles and updates the training guidance for available NIMS courses (organized as core curriculum); and lays out the plan for the next five years to continue development of the National Training Program.
This plan builds on the original National Incident Management System (NIMS) that was published in March 2004. The NIMS was updated in 2007 based on input from stakeholders at every level within the nation’s response community and lessons learned during recent incidents.
Once appropriate courses have been defined within the National Training Program, the NIC will support development of these courses and issue training guidance for them. This will allow stakeholders to develop equivalent training, if they wish to develop training that encompasses specific stakeholder needs in addition to the general NIMS training requirements.
On April 17, 2008 the NIC provided written clarification to a number of our concerns related to the training guidance issued as part of the Five Year Training Plan. The following is a synopsis of those clarifications:
- The NIMS Five Year Training Plan is effective February 25th and it is expected that to the extent possible all components and requirements will be followed.
- All current federally-approved courses (i.e. Willdan Homeland Solutions, Center for Domestic Preparedness, and Office of Emergency Services) that are already scheduled may be presented until June 30, 2008. No new certifications of courses will be approved by POST.
- All personnel that have previously been trained using any of the federally-approved courses (including interactive courses offered by FEMA on the Internet) will be considered as having completed NIMS-compliant training and will NOT be required to retake any of the training courses.
All of the ICS-300 and ICS-400 courses that are currently being presented in California are both federally-approved and POST-certified. Each of these courses fully meets or exceeds the required content and objectives outlined in the NIMS Five Year Training Plan except for the minimum instructional hours. The matrix below provides information on each of the courses and the new training guidance components.
POST, Willdan Homeland Solutions, Center for Domestic Preparedness, and Office of Emergency Services are developing a plan to transition the existing courses to meet the new minimum hourly requirements in an orderly manner. The NIC clearly understands that this transition will not transpire overnight. It is anticipated that the new courses will be available after July 1, 2008.
NIMS COURSE TRAINING GUIDANCE MATRIX
EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 25, 2008
COURSE GROUPING |
COURSE NUMBER |
FEDERAL COURSE TITLE |
COURSE DELIVERY |
MINIMUM HOURS |
|
|
|
|
|
OVERVIEW |
IS-700 |
NIMS:OVERVIEW |
CBT OR CLASS |
3 HOURS |
OVERVIEW |
IS-800 |
NATIONAL RESPONSE FRAMEWORK |
CBT OR CLASS |
3 HOURS |
ICS COURSE |
ICS-100 |
INTRODUCTION TO ICS |
CBT OR CLASS |
6 HOURS |
ICS COURSE |
ICS-200 *** |
ICS FOR SINGLE RESOURCES AND INITIAL ACTION INCIDENTS |
CBT OR CLASS |
6 HOURS |
ICS COURSE |
ICS-300 |
INTERMEDIATE ICS |
CLASS ONLY |
18 HOURS |
ICS COURSE |
ICS-400 |
ADVANCED ICS |
CLASS ONLY |
14 HOURS |
*** It is recommended that ICS-200 be taken in a classroom
CBT = Computer-based web training Class = Classroom, Instructor Led
Agencies are urged to download a copy of The National Incident Management System (NIMS): Five-Year NIMS Training Plan for further information. The plan can be downloaded from www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/nims_compliance.shtm
Questions about the NIMS/SEMS/ICS law enforcement training courses may be directed to Ken Whitman, Special Consultant, Homeland Security Training Program at (916) 227-5561 or by email at Ken.Whitman@post.ca.gov