Could a state or a county in Pennsylvania, for example, buy the MABAS book Getting Started and start this program?

Probably. They could probably use it as a template. Their laws in Pennsylvania might be different than our laws here in Illinois. There's no way to get around the attorneys, and we really streamlined the agreement for the way we do business, but everybody has to sign that contract. If a local attorney says he needs to change this word and that word, we say then you can't come in because not a word in that contract can be changed.

How do the MABAS procedures fit with NIMS?

… In the fire service, we're all focusing on NIMS with its relationship with incident command and incident plans, branches and groups and strike forces, strike teams, and that's fine. The way we do business is a change in terminology for some, but the depth of where we're starting to make an impact is on credentialing, resource-typing, coordination of asset systems, integration of systems — our system with other state systems and national systems, our integration with other disciplines.

The terms of “incident command” or “Incident Action Plan” — in my opinion, that's the top layer of what you see, but it's not the real need of NIMS. NIMS is the ability to have interoperability in anything and everything that you do. That's the challenge to MABAS or any other system. How do we make my widget and your widget work together? How do I make my operational mutual aid system work with your operational mutual aid system? Both pretty babies, both different names — who cares? NIMS gives us the common denominators so the systems can work together.

At the meeting of the Mutual Aid Presidents Conference, I said, “I'm not here to sell MABAS; it's a pretty baby. We've all got pretty babies, pick whatever system you want, but our trick and the importance of this meeting is to make sure your system, my system and their system, when they are brought together, work seamlessly.” That's NIMS.

What about police and Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System?

ILEAS is built on the template of MABAS and came to be three years ago. I was president of the Illinois Fire Chiefs and president of MABAS and invited to be on the Illinois Terrorism Task Force representing special operations. Formed in 1998 by the governor, it was made up of all state agencies. The task force realized that the state fire marshal doesn't own fire trucks and firefighters and the Department of Public Health doesn't own paramedics and ambulances and [the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency] doesn't own hazmat teams and hazmat suits, but MABAS did and it was the sole entity that represented operations and had 250 members. While I'm sitting there working through issues, I encouraged others to come to the table….

I noticed with law enforcement that Illinois State Police was at all the meetings, as was the Sheriffs' Association, but there were no local Illinois police chiefs. I called the president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and told him he needed to be at that table. One thing the police never had … was a consortium for mutual aid. They had no system like a MABAS — nothing regionally, even between sheriffs. MABAS became their template to create ILEAS. In a similar fashion to MABAS but in a much shorter period of time, it expanded like you wouldn't believe….

Since then, we're working slowly with the building officials in Illinois and looking to establish a template based on the MABAS system. All of the county agencies have formed a system based on the MABAS template. MABAS has become a generic term for mutual aid, and that's cool.…