NR 586NP Week 6 Assignment; Week 6 FEMA Training

FEMA Training Course 2 In crisis management operations, there are many different moving parts and it can be easy to get distracted or to overlook key events. In order to standardize the way that organizations conduct incident management, FEMA uses the Incident Command System (ICS). According to IS-0100.c: An Introduction to the Incident Command System, ICS 100, the system can be used by all types of organizations for incidents of any size or complexity because it enables a coordinated response, established common processes and allows for the integration of resources (FEMA: Emergency Management Institute, 2018, pg.10). Various forms of the ICS have been used for decades but when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) opened in 2003, one of the goals of the newly formed agency was to develop a consistent nationwide approach for federal, state, tribal and local governments to work together to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from domestic incidents (FEMA, n.d.). This goal led to the adoption of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) with ICS integrating into the command and coordination component. The other two components of NIMS are resource management and communications and information management ((FEMA: Emergency Management Institute, 2018, pg.13). According to the training, 14 key characteristics contribute to the strength and efficiency of the ICS overall (FEMA: Emergency Management Institute, 2018, pg.21); all are important but two that I would like to focus on are Incident Action Planning and Integrated Communications. Effective communication and proper planning may both seem pretty common-sense but in a high-stress situation such as disaster response, ill-rehearsed plans can be easily forgotten and communication can break down. One example that illustrates how increased focus on both these characters can aid in incident response is the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. “On April 2013, two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) detonated near the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon, approximately three hours after the winners completed the course” (FEMA, n.d.). Response to the crisis was swift and local, state and private organizations were all able to come together to provide the most effective services possible. The success of this response was in due in large part to proper planning and the fact that “public safety agencies and private- sector participants in Massachusetts regularly conduct exercises to facilitate communication, situational awareness, and functional area coordination” (FEMA, n.d.). Massachusetts’s Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee (SIEC) updates their Statewide Communications Interoperability Plan (SCIP) annually to stay up to date on changing technologies, requirements and threats. Furthermore, just a year before the bombings, the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region (MBHSR) had actually “conducted a 24-hour full-scale exercise of emergency personnel response to various scenarios” (FEMA, n.d.). That exercise exposed the need for better communication between the Boston Police Department and the city’s fire departments. Because of proper planning, the city was able to make those improvements before they were actually needed in an actual crisis scenario. When disaster did strike, all parties knew their roles and responsibilities and were able to work together seamlessly.