Do fire departments and EMS organizations have to comply with the requirements of the National Incident Management System (NIMS)?
Yes. Beginning October 1, 2005, all recipients of Federal preparedness funds (including recipients of Federal grants and contracts) must adopt NIMS as a condition for the receipt of the Federal funds. Recipients of FY2006 AFG funds will be considered to be in compliance with the NIMS requirement if their command staff has an operational knowledge of the Incident Command System (ICS) and an understanding of NIMS principles and policies, which meets 2005 requirements. In addition, they must adhere to any NIMS requirements passed down through local governing bodies in 2006. Responders who have already been trained in ICS do not need retraining if their previous training is consistent with DHS standards. In order for us to document compliance, grantees will be required to certify their recognition of NIMS/ICS as part of their grant closeout process.
DHS offers training for those fire departments that have not implemented ICS or are unfamiliar with the principles and policies of the NIMS. For information regarding ICS and NIMS training, visit the NIMS Website at http://www.fema.gov/nims. For more information about ICS training, contact the DHS Centralized Scheduling and Information Desk (CSID) at 1-800-368-6498, or visit the Website of the DHS Emergency Management Institute (EMI) and the National Fire Academy (NFA) at http://www.usfa.fema.gov. Your State emergency management training office may also be a source of information in this regard. Recipients of FY2006 AFG funds should also participate in any community-wide NIMS efforts that may be initiated to implement NIMS in accordance with the guidance that was provided to each State Governor on September 8, 2004.
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