This lesson provides an overview of FEMA incident support.

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Describe how FEMA doctrine guides the missions of response and recovery at the national and regional levels.

Remember you can access the glossary throughout this course by selecting the Glossary button in the top right hand corner of each main content screen.

FEMA is never in command of an incident, so the FEMA incident-level structure is established within a Unified Coordination Group (UCG) that contains the same essential command and general staff elements typically found in a traditional ICS structure.

The IOF or JFO becomes FEMA’s “incident command post” where incident management takes place. The RRCC and NRCC provide incident support to the IOF or JFO, i.e., the FEMA incident level.

The FEMA Qualification System (FQS) is a performance-based qualification system that gives employees the opportunity to demonstrate and document their knowledge and skills in their specific incident management or incident support positions. Performance-based training refers to incident-related performance (at a disaster, incident, or scheduled exercise) that demonstrates the employee’s knowledge, skills, and actual performance, as documented in the position task book for the specific position, during these types of situations.

To become qualified for an incident management or incident support position, each employee is evaluated on the job. FQS standardizes the qualifications for positions across the Agency so that an employee who is qualified to perform in a given disaster position in one FEMA region will be prepared to perform in the same position in another region.

Remember the NISM describes how FEMA national staff supports FEMA incident operations and briefly discusses steady-state activities pertinent to incident operations. It defines the activities of Federal assistance—across the nation and within FEMA’s statutory authority—supporting citizens and first responders in responding to, recovering from, and mitigating all hazards.

It includes definitions and descriptions of roles and responsibilities, functions, and organizational structures for those conducting FEMA incident support duties, thus forming the basis from which FEMA personnel plan and execute their assigned missions. The NISM also serves as the basis for developing related guidance (procedures, handbooks, incident guides, training materials, etc.). It also discusses how NRCS procedures are relevant to all personnel (FEMA, other Federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector) who are either assigned to or coordinate with the NRCS.

The NRCC is a multiagency center that coordinates the overall Federal support for major disasters and emergencies, including catastrophic incidents and emergency management program implementation. As the focal point of FEMA’s national resource coordination, the NRCC:

• Serves as FEMA’s primary operation (support) center.
• Coordinates resource deployment.
• Provides support to regional and field structures.
• Develops national strategic plans.
• Serves as an information conduit.

The NRCS provides emergency management coordination, conducts planning, deploys resources, and collects and disseminates incident information as it builds and maintains situational awareness. The NRCS does the following:

• Maintains situational awareness of specific potential threats, events, or incidents.
• Collects, validates, analyzes, and distributes incident information.
• Coordinates the use of other Federal agencies- resources through mission assignments and interagency agreements.
• Develops the National Support Plan, National Advanced Operational Plan, and Functional Plans to source and address identified resource shortfalls.
• Coordinates with the affected region(s) to determine initial requirements for Federal assistance.
• Coordinates support and situational reporting with the RRCC(s).
• Activates and deploys national teams.
• Deploys initial response resources and other disaster commodities when required.
• When directed, assumes responsibility for regional incident support if a regional office is not operational.

As an element of the MACS, the NRCC organizational structure is NOT set up in an ICS format. However, there is commonality with title terminology and a familiarity with the structure relative to ICS principles.

It is the NRCS who operates the NRCC. The NRCS is organized into four functional sections, aligned with the core functions described on the previous page and coordinated by the Chief of the NRCS. This functional-organization approach enhances coordination, communications, and facilitation by focusing NRCS efforts to achieve essential tasks.

Click on each element below to learn more.

• Ensures information flow and coordination among all FEMA levels (national, regional, and incident[s]).
• Coordinates and synchronizes all Headquarters disaster response; recovery; and mitigation operations, programs, and related activities.
• Provides appropriate incident support to the Regional Administrators (RAs) and Federal Coordinating Officers (FCOs).
• Directs the deployment of national-level teams as needed.
• Approves and signs plans developed by the NRCS Planning Support Section.
• Advises the FEMA Administrator on program and policy issues related to incident management and support and provides recommended courses of action.

• Directs and leads the NRCC by guiding, overseeing, and authorizing activities of the support sections of the NRCC to support incidents.
• Executes the guidance and direction of the Director of Disaster Operations as it relates to incident support.
• Acts as a liaison to executive-, congressional-, and Cabinet-level leadership during response.

• Compiles and analyzes information and data collected through their specific functions and produces relevant products from which the NRCS, senior leadership, and other stakeholders (internal or external) can make decisions affecting their specific support to an incident
• Supports informed decision making through the development of a COP and serves as the single point of reference for incident information management at the NRCS level.
• Facilitates and assists the NRCS Planning Support Section by providing critical documentation or information for developing plans.

• Leads development of a recurring National Support Plan (NSP), usually prepared daily, that tees up issues to be addressed, tasks to be accomplished, and activities that will occur during the specific period it covers.
• Develops or supports the development of functional plans that address specific requirements or issues, both large and small.

• Reviews requirements for clarity and completeness and communicates with the requester for more information if necessary.
• Fills out an action request form for those requirements that come via personal, phone, or email communications; assigns a tracking number and logs the request.
• Updates the status of the orders and responds to inquiries from incident personnel, as necessary, throughout the life cycle of order processing and management
• Serves as an interagency group of response partners including Federal, nongovernmental, and commercial entities focused on developing sourcing recommendations to fulfill disaster requests in support of RRCC and/or JFO operations.
• Processes orders based on the sourcing method identified by the Resource and Capability Branch. This is done by filling out the paperwork necessary for the sourcing method determined and acquiring the necessary approvals to execute the order.

• Ensures that the NRCC remains in an operational state for immediate activation by coordinating the maintenance and readiness of the NRCC and its environmental conditions.
• Provides support for all technology used during activation, assisting staff members with administrative- and human resources-related policies and procedures, as well as maintaining the status of staff and providing travel documentation for NRCS personnel.
• Ensures that all NRCS personnel conduct activities/operations in a safe and healthy environment by providing safety- and health-related recommendations to the NRCC Center and Staff Support Chief.
• Maintains physical security for the NRCC by including access controls and other security measures.
• Publishes and updates the operational tempo as needed and maintains the activation roster, contact information, and other pertinent information.

Before the FCO assumes control of the Federal response and the management of the incident, the RRCC will do the following:

• Establish and maintain all RRCS positions needed, including ESF coordinators.
• Contact the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the affected State(s) to identify capabilities and anticipate shortfalls to determine initial response and support requirements.
• Implement processes for gathering, collating, analyzing, and disseminating incident information to all appropriate parties.
• Provide the NRCC with information necessary to make critical national-level incident management decisions.
• Acquire other Federal agencies’ resources through the use of mission assignments and interagency agreements.
• Establish mobilization centers and staging areas, as needed.
• Deploy regional IMATs and incident staff.
• Request the deployment of a National IMAT(s) or additional Regional IMATs from other Regions when needed.

Once the FCO has assumed control and the JFO is established, the RRCC will:

• Maintain situational awareness of the incident to support the Regional Administrator’s incident management oversight role.
• Develop and implement Regional Support Plans to source and address identified resource shortfalls.

• Serves as the principal advisor regarding emergency management to States within his/her region.
• Collaborates with the State Emergency Management Agencies (EMAs).
• Directs activation and deployment of regional resources such as IMAT and disaster commodities.
• Communicates with the FEMA Administrator.
• Requests assistance from the NRCC Director of Disaster Operations.
• Sets regional priorities and orders Regional Operations Plans.

• Directs and leads the RRCC by providing guidance and oversight to the Support Sections within the RRCC.
• Provides direction to the team members.
• Monitors RRCC staffing levels to ensure that they are maintained at optimum levels needed for effectiveness.
• Oversees the execution of the Regional Administrator’s directions or objectives for RRCS.
• Supervises the sourcing and deployment of resources by the RRCS Resource Support Section.

• Processes requests for information.
• Collects information.
• Develops reports, briefings, and presentation products.
• Performs information analysis.
• Develops and integrates geospatial and technical information.
• Manages records.
• Develops materials that support public messaging.

• Validates, prioritizes, and sources resource requests:
  • Emergency teams or personnel, supplies, commodities, equipment.
• Coordinates activities with ESF and other Federal agency (OFA) partners.
• Provides real-time information of statuses of requests and resources.
• Manages Single Point Ordering Tracking (SPOT), Mission Assignment (MA), and Funds Control.
• Establishes, staffs, and supports Federal Staging Areas.

• Leads the development of a recurring Regional Support Plan that addresses overall incident priorities, objectives, and tasks that will occur during a specific period of time in the context of initial response support activities from the RRCS.
• Provides expertise to support the development of crisis action plans that address specific requirements or issues, both large and small.

• Provide for RRCC safety and security.
• Coordinate with facility maintenance on any issues.
• Provide administrative support to RRCS.

The RRCS and NRCS are activated to varying degrees for different disaster levels. Select each level below to learn more.

• Level I Disaster
• Level II Disaster
• Level III Disaster
• Watch Steady State

A Level I Disaster is an incident of such magnitude that the available assets that were designed and put in place for the response are completely overwhelmed or broken at the local, regional, or national level.

Due to its severity, size, location, actual or potential impact on public health, welfare, and infrastructure, a Level I Disaster requires an extreme amount of Federal assistance for response and recovery efforts for which the capabilities to support do not exist at any level of government.

A Level I Disaster requires extraordinary coordination among Federal, State, tribal, and local entities due to massive levels and breadth of damage, sever impact, or multi-State scope.

A Level I Disaster requires major involvement of FEMA—full activation of the NRCS and RRCS(s). For the NRCC, approximately 130 staff is activated. The number of staff at the RRCC will vary.

A Level II Disaster requires a high amount of direct Federal assistance for response and recovery efforts.

It requires elevated coordination among Federal, State, tribal, and local entities due to moderate level and breadth of damage.

A Level II Disaster involves significant involvement of FEMA—RRCS activation and possibly NRCS activation. For the NRCC, approximately 65 staff is activated. The number of staff at the RRCC will vary.

A Level III Disaster requires a moderate amount of direct federal assistance.

Typically, these incidents are primarily a recovery effort with minimal response requirements and existing Federal and regional resources will meet requests.

A Level III Disaster has minor-to-average levels and breadth of damage. The RRCS and NRCS are activated to support coordination among involved Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial entities. For the NRCC, approximately 30 staff is activated. The number of staff at the RRCC will vary.

Organizational Relationships

Both NRCS and RRCS are responsible for providing incident support within the NRCC and RRCC, respectively. However, there are some differences in their responsibilities.

• Similarities in the roles of NRCS and RRCS
• Differences in the roles of NRCS and RRCS

Both entities:

• Are engaged in incident support.
• Coordinate resource deployment.
• Maintain situational awareness.
• Develop plans.

NRCS:

• The Regional Support Section coordinates deployment of national assets and/or resources:
• Mobile Emergency Response Support
• Urban Search and Rescue
• Distribution Centers
• The Situational Awareness Section develops the Senior Leader Briefings, etc. for the White House.
• The Planning Support Section develops the National Support Plan and functional plans to source and address identified resource shortfalls.

RRCS:

• The Regional Support Section works directly with the State via the UCS to:
• Acquire and deploy regional resources.
• Request national resources if local sources are not available.
• Coordinates situational awareness with the State emergency management organization.
• Collects and provides more detailed, granular data to the Regional Administrator and NRCS Situation Awareness Section.
• The Planning Support Section develops the Regional Support Plan to address incident priorities, objectives, and tasks.
• Provides expertise to support development of functional plans.

Communication and coordination at the NRCC and RRCC is facilitated by the use of WebEOC, a Web-enabled incident management system currently used in FEMA’s incident management and incident support facilities.

WebEOC enables the NRCC and RRCC to coordinate the use of FEMA assets. It allows users to have access to real-time information simultaneously.

There are a number of entities engaged in incident support other than the NRCC and the RRCC. The following are a few examples:

• The National Operations Center (NOC)
• Hurricane Liaison Team (HLT)
• Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS)
• National Joint Terrorism Task Force (NJTTF)
• National/Regional Watch Centers

Let’s summarize what you have learned in this lesson:

• The NRCC and RRCC serve as the focal point of national and regional resource coordination, respectively.
• NRCS and RRCS share similar roles in incident support and communicate among various sections at various incident levels, but there are many differences in their responsibilities.
• FEMA doctrines such as the NISM and RISM guide the missions of response and recovery at the national and regional levels.
• There are other entities in addition to NRCC and RRCC that are engaged in incident support, such as the NOC and MERS.

Now that you have learned about the FEMA incident support, you will learn more about FEMA incident management in the next lesson.