Do fire departments that receive SAFER grants 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 2005 SAFER funding will be considered to be in compliance with the NIMS requirement if the grantee has an operational knowledge of the Incident Command System (ICS) and an understanding of its NIMS principles and policies. Responders who have already been trained in ICS do not need retraining if their previous training is consistent with DHS standards. So that we may 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 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 2005 SAFER funding should also participate in any community-wide NIMS efforts initiated to implement NIMS in accordance with the guidance that was provided to each State Governor on September 8, 2004.

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