On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 18:38:04 GMT, "Paul Hirose"
wrote:

Here's more on the National Incident Management System plain language
requirement that the newspaper article mentioned.

"All exercises that responders participate in should feature plain
English commands so they can function in a multi-jurisdiction
environment."

Our county mandates NIMS/ICS (Incident Command System) for all
agencies. They still use APCO 10 codes for day to day chatter, where
NIMS is a management system and not radio-specific. I don't recall any
mention in this or advanced NIMS courses about avoiding 10 codes, but
an unwritten given is all should be using the standard APCO 10 code.

FEMA offers a simple and free online NIMS intro course here open to
anyone:

http://168.143.180.84/FEMA/VC/is700_NIMS

It takes about 3 hours, has multimedia and is well done. You take an
online final, get an email pass/fail, and a paper certificate about 8
weeks later via post.

The above IS-700 course is mandatory for RACES membership in our
county. Good idea, as it makes sure everyone is on the same page in
the big picture, and defines who does what.

Steve

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