[ARRL-OK] ICS Training

[Lloyd Colston]

An Overview for Emergency Communications Volunteers The 
K3XO.net/Sterling Interactive "Incident Command System" online training 
is now available free for general use.

The Incident Command System, or ICS, is an almost universally accepted 
organizational structure for the management of emergency and disaster 
situations of all sizes. The project was initiated to provide an 
overview of an important organizational system for emergency and 
disaster management.

One of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Report strongly 
endorses the use of ICS. The recommendation on page 397 of the report 
states:

"Recommendation: Emergency response agencies nationwide should adopt the 
Incident Command System (ICS).When multiple agencies or multiple 
jurisdictions are involved, they should adopt a unified command. Both 
are proven frameworks for emergency response. We strongly support the 
decision that federal homeland security funding will be contingent, as 
of October 1, 2004, upon the adoption and regular use of ICS and unified 
command procedures. In the future, the Department of Homeland Security 
should consider making funding contingent on aggressive and realistic 
training in accordance with ICS and unified command procedures."

While the intended audience for this training is Amateur Radio emergency 
communications volunteers, this overview would benefit anyone who might 
become involved in an emergency response or disaster relief. As 
emergency volunteers, we may have to work directly with government 
emergency and disaster response organizations. However, this training is 
not intended as a comprehensive training package for emergency response 
professionals.

For some of our more experienced ARES and RACES members, this will 
hopefully be a useful review. For the many new people who have joined 
our ranks recently, this is essential training. At the end of the series 
of presentations we will provide you with an opportunity to take a test 
to see how well you have learned the basics of the Incident Command System.

The content was adapted from the Emergency Management Institute online 
course IS-195, "The Incident Command System." The Emergency Management 
Institute is part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The 
material that will be presented is the substance of Unit 1 of Course 
IS-195, with the addition of some supplemental information from the ICS 
training curriculum from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG).

Please pass this information on to anyone you think would benefit from 
it. Also, please feel free to link from your website to the training. I 
am hoping for as wide a distribution as possible. I am also very 
interested in your feedback. Please send any comments you have to 
mailto:ics at k3xo.net.

The direct link http://www.k3xo.net/ics_login.php will take you to the 
login screen.

Finally, take a little time to check out the new K3XO.net site. It's 
only a bare beginning, but with your participation and input, I hope it 
will grow.

73, Rip Smith K3XO


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Lloyd Colston		Mayes County CEM
Pryor, OK USA		http://www.geocities.com/mccem
    	Homeland Security begins at Home.