National Incident Management System

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Developed by the United States Secretary of Homeland Security at the request of the President of the United States, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) integrates effective practices in emergency preparedness and response into a comprehensive national framework for incident management. The NIMS will enable responders at all levels to work together more effectively to manage domestic incidents no matter what the cause, size or complexity.

There have been some difficulties implementing the system in local jurisdictions where Emergency Management Directors are now required to cede some authority to emergency responders in the field.

Contents 1 History of NIMS 2 Concepts and Principles 2.1 Flexibility 2.2 Standardization 3 NIMS Components 3.1 Command and management 3.2 Preparedness 3.3 Resource management 3.4 Communications and information management 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] History of NIMS

On February 28, 2003, President George W. Bush issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-5, Management of Domestic Incidents, which directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop and administer the National Incidient Management System. After the proposed system had gone through extensive vetting and coordination from Federal agencies, NIMS was released by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on March 1,2004.

HSPD-5 required all federal agencies to adopt the NIMS and to use it in their individual domestic incident management and emergency prevention, preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation programs and activities. The directive also required Federal departments to make adoption of NIMS by State, tribal and local organizations a condition for Federal preparedness assistance beginning in Fiscal Year 2005. In addition, all State, tribal and local emergency personnel with a direct role in emergency preparedness, incident management or reponse were to have completed NIMS training by October 1, 2005. All State, tribal and local personnel with any type of emergency assignment must complete NIMS training by October 1, 2006.

[edit] Concepts and Principles

NIMS is based on an appropriate balance of flexibility and standardization:

[edit] Flexibility

NIMS provides a consistent, flexible and adjustable national framework within which government and private entities at all levels can work together to manage domestic incidents, regardless of their cause, size, location or complexity.

[edit] Standardization

NIMS provides a set of standard organizational structures, as well as requirements for processes, procedures and systems designed to improve operability among jurisdictions and disciplines in various areas.

[edit] NIMS Components

[edit] Command and management

NIMS standard incident command structures are based on three key organizational systems:

• The Incident Command System
• Multi-agency Coordination (MAC) System
• Public Information Systems

[edit] Preparedness

The range of deliberate, critical tasks and activities necessary to build, sustain, and improve the operational capability to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents. Preparedness is a continuous process. Preparedness involves efforts at all levels of government and between government and private-sector and nongovernmental organizations to identify threats, determine vulnerabilities, and identify required resources. Within the NIMS, preparedness is operationally focused on establishing guidelines, protocols, and standards for planning, training and exercises, personnel qualification and certification, equipment certification, and publication management.

[edit] Resource management

Efficient incident management requires a system for identifying available resources at all jurisdictional levels to enable timely and unimpeded access to resources needed to prepare for, respond to, or recover from an incident. Resource management under the NIMS includes mutual-aid agreements; the use of special Federal, State, local, and tribal teams; and resource mobilization protocols.

[edit] Communications and information management

NIMS requires incident management organizations to ensure that effective interoperable communications and information management processes, procedures and systems exist to support a wide variety of incident management activities across agencies and jurisdictions.

[edit] See also

• Emergency management
• Emergency preparedness
• FEMA
• Incident Command System
• Community emergency response team
• National Response Plan
• Resource Ordering Status System

[edit] External links

• U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security
• FEMA: National Incident Management System
• National Response Plan
• FEMA NIMS Training Online
• National Incident Management System (NIMS) Online
• National Incident Management System (NIMS) Training
• NIMS online training course