Lesson 1: Fundamentals and Concepts of NIMS

We’ll now begin with the content of the first lesson. This lesson presents key concepts and principles underlying NIMS.

Objectives: At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

  • Describe applicability and scope of NIMS.
  • Describe the key concepts and principles underlying NIMS.
Checkmark next to NIMS Introduction, arrow next to Fundamentals and Concepts of NIMS, bullet next to NIMS Resource Management, bullet next to NIMS Management Characteristics, bullet next to Incident Command System, bullet next to Emergency Operations Centers, bullet next to Other NIMS Structures and Interconnectivity, bullet next to Communications and Information Management, bullet next to Course Summary.
What is NIMS?
Transcript - What is NIMS?

Each day communities respond to numerous emergencies. Most often, these incidents are managed effectively at the local level. However, there are some incidents that may require a collaborative approach includes personnel from:

  • Multiple jurisdictions
  • A combination of specialties or disciplines
  • Several levels of government
  • Nongovernmental organizations
  • The private sector

The National Incident Management System, or NIMS, provides the foundation needed to ensure that we can work together when our communities and the Nation need us the most.

NIMS integrates best practices into a comprehensive, standardized framework that is flexible enough to be applicable across the full spectrum of potential incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity.

Using NIMS allows us to work together to prepare for, prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents.

This course introduces you to the NIMS concepts, principles, and components.

 

NIMS Overview

WHAT? The National Incident Management System (NIMS) defines the comprehensive approach guiding…

WHO? …the whole community - solutions that serve the entire community are implemented while simultaneously making sure that the resources the different members of the community bring to the table are leveraged across all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), and private sector organizations to work together seamlessly

WHY? …to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the effects of incidents.

WHEN? NIMS applies to all incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity, from planned events to traffic accidents and to major disasters.

HOW? NIMS provides the shared vocabulary, systems, and processes to successfully deliver the National Preparedness System capabilities.

HISTORY: NIMS builds on best practices from more than 40 years of improving interoperability in incident management. NIMS evolved from the Firefighting Resources of California Organized for Potential Emergencies (FIRESCOPE) system that began in the 1970s. In 1982 NIMS was developed through government collaboration with incident management practitioners, NGOs and the private sector. The first NIMS document was published by FEMA in 2004 and was revised in 2008 and 2017.  

National Incident Management System, Third Edition October 2017, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Seal, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Voices of Experience: NIMS Benefits
Click on an image to learn about each person's perspectives on NIMS Benefits.
Steve Grainer, Former Chief, Incident Management Programs, VA Dept. of Fire Programs
Curry Mayer, Former Training & Exercise Chief, Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CA)
Kristy Plourde, Emergency Management Specialist, U.S. Coast Guard
Roberta Runge, National NIMS Coordinator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Voices of Experience: NIMS Benefits

Steve Grainer, Former Chief, Incident Management Programs, VA Dept. of Fire Programs

NIMS is a national initiative to standardize the fundamental processes that are necessary for effectively managing significant emergencies, and it’s applicable in all size and scale and scope emergencies.

Having been involved at the local, State, and Federal level in a number of different venues during my career, I’m truly and honestly pleased to say that this is an opportunity for us all to better establish a baseline of competencies for not only emergencies, obviously that would be the primary focus, but also to utilize a nationally vetted process that will work given A) participation and B) commitment. So I’m all for the idea of establishing a national systems approach as is pretty much formatted through the concepts of NIMS in their entirety. It’s a good thing, that’s about the best I can say.

Curry Mayer, Former Training & Exercise Chief, Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CA)

NIMS is the national structure that includes roles and responsibilities for responding to an incident that would require the Federal Government to be involved, a catastrophic or large-scale incident. It’s also a system that provides common terminology, roles, and responsibilities so that everyone in the country can basically plug into the national system of response.

Kristy Plourde, Emergency Management Specialist, U.S. Coast Guard

NIMS has helped us be better structured, have less duplication, be more organized and more efficient and it covers the whole gambit of organization, communications, preparedness, it’s the whole, it’s everything.

Roberta Runge, National NIMS Coordinator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

NIMS is a system that allows us to plan and prepare and execute a response more effectively with our response partners.

The biggest benefit to us as an agency is to be able to understand how our response partners are also going to be executing the response. EPA is a fairly large organization but we hardly ever respond to something very large and very complicated without other Federal and State and local partners. If everyone is operating the response using different terminology or a different management structure, it becomes very difficult, very fast.

NIMS Applicability and Scope

NIMS is a common framework for emergency management and incident response that is applicable to all stakeholders with incident related responsibilities.

The audience for NIMS includes:

  • Emergency responders
  • Other incident personnel
  • Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) such as faith-based and community-based groups
  • The private sector
  • Elected and appointed officials
  • People with disabilities or access and functional needs

The scope of NIMS includes:

  • All incidents, regardless of size, complexity, or scope
  • Planned events such as sporting events
Overview of NIMS
The National Incident Management System (NIMS) defines the comprehensive approach guiding the whole community - all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), and the private sector - to work together seamlessly to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the effects of incidents.

 

NIMS Is

NIMS Is Not

  • A comprehensive, nationwide, systematic approach to incident management, including the command and coordination of incidents, resource management, and information management
  • Only the Incident Command System
  • Only applicable to certain emergency/incident response personnel
  • A static system
  • A set of concepts and principles for all threats, hazards, and events across all mission areas (Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, Recovery)
  • A response plan
  • Scalable, flexible, and adaptable; used for all incidents, from day-to-day to large-scale
  • Used only during large-scale incidents
  • Standard resource management procedures that enable coordination among different jurisdictions or organizations
  • A resource ordering system
  • Essential principles for communications and information management
  • A communications plan
NIMS Guiding Principles

Incident management is the application of resources by organizations to plan for, respond to, and recover from an incident.

Priorities for incident management in planning, response, and recovery efforts include saving lives, stabilizing the incident, and protecting property and the environment.

To achieve these priorities, incident management personnel use NIMS components in accordance with three NIMS guiding principles:

  • Flexibility
  • Standardization
  • Unity of Effort
Flexibility

The NIMS guiding principle of flexibility allows NIMS to be scalable from routine, local incidents through those requiring interstate mutual aid up to those requiring Federal assistance.

Flexibility enables NIMS to be applicable to incidents that vary widely in terms of hazard, geography, demographics, climate, cultural, and organizational authorities.

NIMS components are adaptable to any type of event or incident.

Four photos: graduation ceremony, hurricane, home damaged by an earthquake, and debris from WTC terrorist attack.
Standardization

The NIMS guiding principle of standardization supports interoperability among multiple organizations in incident response.

NIMS defines standard organizational structures that improve integration and connectivity among organizations.

NIMS defines standard practices that allow incident personnel and organizations to work together effectively.

NIMS includes common terminology, which enables effective communication.

Unity of Effort

The NIMS guiding principle of Unity of Effort means coordinating activities among various organizational representatives to achieve common objectives. Unity of effort enables organizations with jurisdictional authority or functional responsibilities to support each other while allowing each participating agency to maintain its own authority and accountability.


NIMS Framework - Major Components
Jurisdictions and organizations involved in the management of incidents vary in their authorities, management structures, communication capabilities and protocols, and many other factors. The major Components of NIMS provide a common framework to integrate these diverse capabilities and achieve common goals.
Block diagram with National Incident Management System, Third Edition October 2017, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Seal, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) cover at the top. Bottom boxes labeled Resource Management, Command and Coordination, and Communications and Information Management.
Resource Management
Resource Management describes standard mechanisms to systematically manage resources, including personnel, equipment, supplies, teams, and facilities, both before and during incidents in order to allow organizations to more effectively share resources when needed.
Command and Coordination
Command and Coordination describes leadership roles, processes, and recommended organizational structures for incident management at the operational and incident support levels and explains how these structures interact to manage incidents effectively and efficiently.
Communications and Information Management
Communications and Information Management describes systems and methods that help to ensure that incident personnel and other decision makers have the means and information they need to make and communicate decisions.
Lesson 1: Fundamentals and Concepts of NIMS Summary

This lesson presented an overview of the Fundamentals and Concepts of NIMS.

The lesson specifically discussed:

  • An Introduction and Background to NIMS
  • NIMS Applicability and Scope
  • NIMS Guiding Principles
  • An Overview of the NIMS components

The next lesson will introduce you to NIMS Resource Management.

Checkmark next to NIMS Introduction, checkmark next to Fundamentals and Concepts of NIMS, bullet next to NIMS Resource Management, bullet next to NIMS Management Characteristics, bullet next to Incident Command System, bullet next to Emergency Operations Centers, bullet next to Other NIMS Structures and Interconnectivity, bullet next to Communications and Information Management, bullet next to Course Summary.