Emergency Management Institute – NIMS/ICS Training

National Incident Management System

Anyone who is employed either full time, or part time/on call, in a disaster response or recovery role must be knowledgeable of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The methodology and uniform nature of NIMS allows the many government and non-government agencies involved in disaster response to work in unison during an otherwise chaotic effort. The primary provider of NIMS and related training is FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute.

The Emergency Management Institute is part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The EMI provides national leadership in developing and delivering training to ensure that individuals and groups having key emergency management responsibilities, including FEMA employees, possess the requisite skills to effectively perform their jobs.    

EMI is not new to the business of training emergency responders, and in fact, recently celebrated it’s 60th anniversary. The Emergency Management Institute started as the Civil Defense Staff College (CDSC) in Olney, Maryland, on April 1, 1951, and taught civil defense courses in program administration and finance, radiation monitoring and control, and heavy rescue. After its move to Battle Creek, MI during the cold war, the CDSC continued teaching courses in program administration and finance, civil defense operations, and radiological monitoring among others, to State and local personnel. By 1979, some new courses had been created on natural disaster operations. About this time, the FCDA was moved under the Department of Defense and was re-titled the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency (DCPA).

In 1979, then President Jimmy Carter brought together a number of Federal agencies that had involvement in disasters, including DCPA, and created a new, amalgamated organization, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Also in 1979, President Carter dedicated the former St. Joseph’s College, which closed with its merger of participants and faculty with Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, as the FEMA National Emergency Training Center (NETC). NETC then became the home for the National Fire Academy (NFA) and the re-named Staff College which become the Emergency Management Institute (EMI), to reflect its now broader training role. The move from Battle Creek, Michigan, to Emmitsburg was done in the Fall of 1980 and the first EMI class was conducted in January 1981.

EMI now offers a full-spectrum emergency management curriculum with more than 500 courses available to the integrated emergency management community, which includes: FEMA staff and disaster employees; Federal partners; State, Tribal, and local emergency managers; volunteer organizations; and first responders from across the Nation. EMI supports international emergency management with more than 50 countries participating in EMI’s training and educational activities through the years, both in residence and through internationally deployed training teams.

EMI has replaced its Incident Command System (ICS) curricula with courses that meet the requirements specified in the National Incident Management System (NIMS). EMI developed the new courses collaboratively with the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG), the United States Fire Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture.

Below are the new NIMS compliant courses that follow NIMS guidelines:

Course Code	Course Title
IS-100.b	Introduction to Incident Command System, ICS-100
IS-100.FDA	Introduction to Incident Command System (ICS 100) for Food and Drug Administration
IS-100.FWa	Intro to Incident Command System (ICS 100) for Federal Workers
IS-100.HCb	Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS 100) for Healthcare/Hospitals
IS-100.HE	Introduction to the Incident Command System for Higher Education
IS-100.LEb	Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS 100) for Law Enforcement
IS-100.PWb	Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS 100) for Public Works
IS-100.SCa	Introduction to the Incident Command System for Schools
IS-200.b	ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
IS-200.HCa	Applying ICS to Healthcare Organizations
IS-700.a	National Incident Management System (NIMS) An Introduction
IS-701.a	NIMS Multiagency Coordination System (MACS) Course
IS-702.a	National Incident Management System (NIMS) Public Information Systems
IS-703.a	NIMS Resource Management
IS-704	NIMS Communications and Information Management
IS-706	NIMS Intrastate Mutual Aid – An Introduction
IS-800.b	National Response Framework, An Introduction

EMI encourages organizations to begin using the NIMS compliant courses immediately.

Related articles

• FEMA Training Opportunity – Limited Attendence (safetygator.wordpress.com)
• Welcome to the Emergency Management Institute (fema.gov)
• FEMA issues Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans (drwilda.com)
• 10 Ways to Improve your Coordination with External Agencies (vanguardemergency.wordpress.com)
• NIMS: Guidance for HPP 2012 | Christina’s Considerations (thielst.typepad.com)