The Department of Homeland Security is ramping up tools and resources for implementation of the National Incident Management System. The resource materials are available on the NIMS Integration Center's Web site.

Resource management tools

Designed to help incident managers identify, obtain and track resources during an emergency, new resource-management products include an updated National Mutual Aid Glossary of Terms and Definitions, providing terms for equipment, teams and personnel used in disasters; and Resource Typing Definitions II, which categorizes equipment and teams by functional grouping and then organizes them according to capability and/or capacity.

An initial 60 typed definitions were released in March 2004 as part of the National Mutual Aid and Resource Management Initiative. The new definitions bring the total to 120.

Implementation template

The sample adoption plan envisions four phases. Phase I is initial staff training, including completion of FEMA'S NIMS and ICS independent-study courses. Phase II involves evaluating plans, policies and procedures to identify aspects that need to be made compliant with NIMS concepts. Phase III involves the modification of emergency response, operations and other relevant plans, procedures and policies to reflect the adoption of NIMS concepts. Phase IV involves credentialing and certifying personnel and equipment based on NIC standards.

The sample plan provides a checklist to help track progress toward full NIMS adoption.

“NIMS and the Incident Command System.”

This paper reviews the development of ICS and discusses the characteristics of the NIMS ICS as the “standardized incident organizational structure for the management of all [domestic] incidents.” Although many agencies now use various forms of ICS, this paper explains how these systems can be integrated into a common ICS as taught by DHS.

For these materials, visit www.fema.gov/nims. Direct questions to NIMS-Integration-Center@dhs.gov or 202-646-3850.