National Incident Management System

Emergency responders face the prospect of responding to a disaster occurring at any time or any location within their jurisdiction. Local agencies are responsible to properly prepare for, mitigate and respond to both man-made and natural disasters. Emergency responders and their agencies should follow the guidelines of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) in order to be best prepared for response to the next disaster whether natural or man-made.

NIMS provides agencies with extensive guidelines to attain preparedness that apply to all disasters including terrorist attacks. Agencies and responders who are fully prepared are confident and reliable ensuring the best outcomes in responding to disasters. There are many steps to take to

Training should include actual or mock responses by state and federal agencies if the scenario would call for support and mutual aid. The incident command system must be utilized in training and all responders should be familiar with the concepts. ICS is a standardized and flexible management system making it ideal for any incident especially those requiring multi-jurisdictional agency responders to work together (Department of Homeland Security, 2008). The standardization of terms, procedures and command system of ICS dictates that responders are supervised by one supervisor in the chain of command and are delivered specific instructions from one source. All emergency responders nationally should be fully trained and proficient in its application. Agencies from different jurisdictions should have the ability to work together within its guidelines. The flexibility of ICS allows for its use in any incident type or size and it can be expanded or contracted if the incident becomes larger or smaller than

Any problems, questions or equipment issues should be addressed as well as established procedures that may need correction. Emergency responders should also be evaluated to ensure proper practice and procedures were followed and to address any further training that may be needed. Use of ICS should be a focus of the evaluation because of its importance in responding to incidents. Two common mistakes for emergency responders are failure to implement ICS and failure to fully understand the concept and its application (Phoenix Police Department, n.d., slide 17). Proper use of ICS must be used and fully understood in order to reap the benefits of having an efficient, flexible and standardized incident management plan; otherwise tasks and responsibilities are likely to be overlooked during a response to any incident especially those involving the high stress of a terrorist