ICS 300/400 Age Requirements

[Tubacap]

Does anyone know any of any age restrictions on who can take ICS 300/400?  The FEMA website didn't seem to have any help, and the state website is a bit of a quagmire.

[SoCalMarine]

Don't know that there is any. FEMA doesn't ask for your age when taking a course online, and generally speaking a local class is dependent on what the organization putting the course on feels is appropriate. I know there were 16 year olds in my NESA classes last year taking 300 and 400.

[davidsinn]

Yes. FEMA will not issue a completion certificate for anyone under 18. I have a friend who is an instructor and he tried to submit some and they got kicked back.

[SoCalMarine]

Regardless of the situation that Davidsinn speaks of, if you take a test on the ISP section on the FEMA site they do not ask for age. They ask for a SSN, but that is used as your student ID and not to verify anything about you.

I am a certified Coast Guard instructor and I've taught some FEMA courses and was never given instructions on a minimum age. NESA teaches both 300 and 400 and as long as you're a CAP member you can take the courses and be given the certification of passing both. I have no idea the situation behind davidsinn's example.

Doing some searching online for minimum requirements it seems that 300 and 400 have separate requirements. Some groups have the same requirements for both, and some set different (lower) requirements for 300 than for 400. NESA states you have to be 16 for 300, and 18 for 400. Multiple municipalities, fire departments and EMAs go between 16 and 18. Generally speaking, the 18 year old minimum isn't a FEMA requirement so much as a requirement by the organization teaching the course for liability reasons as its a resident course.

So clearly, there's not a hard fast rule that its 18 being that some agencies are teaching them to people as young as 16.

[John Bryan]

The short answer is ICS 300 and 400 FEMA requires the student be 18 years of age or older.

I am that friend Dave Sinn spoke of.....and I did just teach an ICS 300 class and allowed CAP cadets under 18 to attend.  It was an interesting class, I was a little unsure how the other students (police, fire, a town manager) would take the cadets but they all responded well and treated the cadets with respect.

That said FEMA (Center for Domestic Preparedness) informed me after the fact that they could not process the tests for the students under age 18 and that for credit from FEMA they would need to take the class again after they turned 18. FEMA would issue a letter of attendance but that is not the same as completing the course.

Also as an instructor I have to have students fill out a CDP Form 4407.3F which requires they give a date of birth.