On Jan. 6, DHS Secretary Tom Ridge announced the long-awaited completion of the National Response Plan, the cornerstone of a nearly two-year multi-agency effort under DHS to improve the integration and coordination of emergency response at major disasters.

The NRP establishes a comprehensive all-hazards approach to the management of domestic incidents. The plan integrates into a unified structure best practices and procedures from homeland security, emergency management, law enforcement, firefighting, public works, public health, responder and recovery worker health and safety, emergency medical services, and the private sector. With its underlying National Incident Management System, it forms the basis of how the federal government coordinates with state, local, and tribal governments and the private sector during incidents.

Chief John M. Buckman of German Township (Ind.) Volunteer Fire Department played a lead role in the NRP for the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

So what's new in the NRP for the fire service?

Most of the things in the NRP are not new to the fire service, and the main reason is the ESFs, or emergency support functions, have been used for several years now. There may be some modifications or additions to the ESFs, but fire chiefs should be familiar with the process.

The biggest question is whether the federal government will use the NRP as it's written. If they do, we will finally get everyone on the same page — in the same book, on the same day.… We believe and support Secretary Tom Ridge and his push to have the federal agencies pledge their cooperation and implementation of the NRP. I want to see real signs that they are implementing the NRP within their agencies.

When is the NRP to be implemented by the fire service?

The federal government is supposed to be implementing it by April 2005. Right now, it is being pushed to the state level. After that it will be pushed to the local level.

The NRP covers a lot of ground. Is there any particular piece of it that you would suggest local fire chiefs zero in on first?

Look into the emergency support functions. There are three new ones. Law enforcement is one of them. The fire service is ESF No. 5, and it's basically unchanged from [the Interim National Response Plan, released in October 2003]. This was a major accomplishment of our group that we had this included in the NRP. There was some belief by some in the federal system that the ESFs were an old way of doing things, but through the vetting process that DHS used, it received adequate feedback from practitioners who said the NRP needed to continue to use ESFs as part of the process.

Did this document reinforce the role of local first responders in the management of response to large incidents?

Right.… If you're going to provide firefighting support, if you're going to provide health care support, hazardous materials, security, feeding, mass care — the ESFs spell out the criteria that you need to have or you need to meet so that you can do the job. The next part will be, how do we develop a capabilities matrix to measure a community's ability to mount the resources necessary for that given incident? And the capabilities matrix, or capabilities description, will be used as a funding mechanism to determine where federal funding goes to improve capabilities.

Any other thoughts about the NRP for fire chiefs?

Yes. I believe this is a leadership document. It's an opportunity for the fire service to become leaders in helping their communities plan for, prepare for and respond to disasters on the local level. Local government officials are looking to somebody to provide that leadership, and I believe that fire chiefs have the ability to do that. I believe this document provides them with a tool to help them better prepare their communities to respond to disasters. There is going to be ample opportunity within local communities to expand our ability to partner with other agencies to improve our communities' capability to respond to a catastrophic event. You see, everybody thinks of “response” as just the red lights and sirens part, but in today's world, response is really awareness, preparation, response and recovery. That's what the NRP is all about.

For more information, about the National Response Plan, see www.dhs.gov/nationalresponseplan or call 800-368-6498.