National Incident Management System Training

Overview

In accordance with new national standards as presented by the Federal Government and as adopted by the City of Brownsville, all City of Brownsville employees are required to receive Incident Command System (ICS) Training and National Incident Management System (NIMS) Training upon being hired by the City. Additionally, some of those same employees will be required to attend additional training in ICS throughout the year.

In general terms, all public safety responders and all support personnel will be required to attend some training this year. Please note - failure to comply with these requirements will result in the City of Brownsville becoming ineligible for federal grants including all FEMA and DHS grant programs. The general federal guidelines for the training is as follows: 
  • Command Staff
  • Upper-Level Supervisors
  • Supervisors
  • Field Staff / Front-line Staff
ICS-BR1
The general idea is that the larger numbers of front-line staff will have the basic working knowledge of ICS and NIMS, and as you move further up the pyramid, the smaller numbers of supervisory and command staff members will have additional, more in-depth knowledge of ICS and the National Response Framework.

Classes

There are 4 classes that must be addressed by City of Brownsville employees. They are:
  • IS-100 - Introduction to Incident Command
  • IS-200 - Basic Incident Command (Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents)
  • IS-700 - Introduction to the National Incident Management System
  • IS-800 - Introduction to the National Response Framework
The breakdown of who needs these courses is as follows:
ICS-BR2

Class Schedule

These courses are all available online from FEMA at no cost. The links are available as listed below.

Online Courses / Testing Tips

Each of the required courses is also available online. The courses are offered through FEMA's website, and are completely free of charge. Links to the appropriate pages are as follows:
These courses all require a final exam which you will take online when you have finished reviewing the course materials. In order to take each exam, you will need to register for a FEMA Student Identification (SID) number. If you believe you already have a FEMA SID, you can retrieve it online. Your FEMA SID will serve as your identifier throughout FEMA agencies without using your Social Security number as a method of tracking.

Please be sure that when you complete the "Required Student Information" section you fill in your email address, that way you have an electronic verification (if you don't receive it the same day, you will receive it the morning after you take the test). Ensure you forward a copy of your certificate(s) to hr@brownsvilletx.gov so it may be placed in your personnel file.