Emergency management courses offered in Elk River

Courses in National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS) are available free of charge to Idaho first responders through Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security grant funding.

Both NIMS and ICS training will be held Feb. 25 at Elk River Community Center. NIMS training will be from 8 to 11 a.m. and ICS training will be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. ICS will also be offered the same day at the Winchester Fire Hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Course IEM-700, National Incident Management System, is a three hour training that introduces and explains the purpose, principles, key components and benefits of NIMS. The course also contains Planning Activity screens giving participants an opportunity to complete some planning tasks during this course. The planning activity screens are printable so that participants can use them after completing the course. This is a required course for all First Responders to be compliant with the new NIMS standard.

On Feb. 28, 2003, the President issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5. It directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop and administer NIMS to provide a consistent nationwide template to enable all government, private-sector, and nongovernmental organizations to work together during domestic incidents.

Course IEM-100, Incident Command System is an eight-hour classroom version of the independent study course developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Emergency Management Institute (EMI). The overall goal for this course is to enable the student to function in an ICS environment. The target audience is first responders from all disciplines and services, i.e., personnel from fire service, emergency management, emergency medical services, law enforcement, hazmat, public works, disaster response, emergency communications, public health, armed forces/national guard, elected/appointed officials, transportation, public safety communication, and governmental administrative.

To ensure course materials and certificates are available for each student, pre-registration is requested.To enroll in these courses: go to the Idaho emergency preparedness website at www.idahoprepares.com. For enrollment/registration assistance, or for those who do not have access to the internet, call the Institute of Emergency Management to enroll/ register, at 208-373-1764 or email shemsuza@isu.edu.

Those who would like additional information about this class or other classes available free through the Institute of Emergency Management, please contact Mary Ann Reuter at ISU-Boise Center: (208) 373-1760 or by email at reutmary@isu.edu.

Note: This is the Incident Command System Course for the entry-level first responders in the new FEMA NIMS-compliant curriculum. This meets the equivalent of the state requirement of ICS Basic (195) under the previous curriculum. Those who have previously taken ICS Basic as IEM-195 or IS-195 do not need to re-take this course.