CAPT 116

[isuhawkeye]

I am an instructor for 300.  it is a 16 contact hour course.  I teach it with my team in 2 days.

[mynetdude]

For ICS 300 to be NIIMS compliant, it must be three days long.  ICS 400 is two days long.  The instructors must be certified by the state office that runs emergency services or it is not NIIMS compliant. 

Could you please cite the reference for the 3-day requirement for ICS 300?  I'm planning to take this with our local EOC and they are only offering a 2-day course.

Even in our state they teach the ICS300 in 2 days, thats what they teach the paying folks so if it is a 3 day requirement I'll bet the whole state would have to retake the class.   The county here does ICS300/400 combined classes in a 5 day session which equates 2 days of ICS300 and 3 days of ICS400.

[sardak]

The "NIMS 5-Year Training Plan", published in February, gives the objectives, content, contact hours and instructor qualifications for all NIMS courses.

ICS-300 (page 56) shows 18 contact hours.   As ISU said, it's usually taught in 2 days.

ICS-400 (page 57) shows 14 contact hours. 

14 hrs + 18 hrs = 32 hrs = 4 days

The NWCG course manager's guide shows I-300 as 18 to 24 hours and I-400 as 16 hours, which would be 5 days for the combo.

As for the instructors being certified by the state EM office, there is nothing in the 5 year plan that says that.  The only requirement I know of is this statement from the NIMS website:
IMPORTANT NOTE: An instructor's qualifications must be verified by the agency sponsoring the training.

Not to say there isn't some other specific requirement buried in the NIMS documentation.

Mike

[Short Field]

Cleaned up and posted below.   I screwed up and ended up with three identical posts - and the first one was really too long....   

[Short Field]

Sorry - extra copy of last post shorted.

[Short Field]

You guys are right.   

I confused what the instructor was saying between what the minimum is required now and what the minimum is expected to be in the near future.    The following discusses the new requirements for ICS 300 to be a minimum of 20  hours (recommend 24 hrs) and ICS 400 to be a minimum of 12 hours (recommend 16 hrs).  Of course the new standards may not be published but my state is following the recommended hours for each course.  Sorry I couldn't find a better source.

From the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services

http://emergency.cccco.edu/Portals/3/binder/1CollegesNewNIMS.doc

========
The following information is from the NIMS working group and includes changes to ICS 300 and 400.  This information has not yet been published by the federal government. It is expected this summer:

FIELD RESPONSE PERSONNEL
•   Command and General Staff response personnel in the field are required to take ICS 300 and ICS 400. This generally means only those response personnel likely to be placed in a Command or General staff position during a disaster.

•   The minimum hour requirements for field response personnel will be:

   ICS 300 course should be a minimum of 20 hours (Recommend 24 hours)
   ICS 400 course should be a minimum of 12 hours (Recommend 16 hours)
   Personnel who take ICS 300 or 400 with fewer hours will not be considered NIMS compliant

•   The NIMS Integration Center recommends that in order to ensure ICS 300 and ICS 400 courses are effective, ICS 300 and 400 should not be given in the same week. The optimum amount of time between courses is 6 months to a year apart.

      The above suggested hours were developed by response Subject Matter Experts from local, state and federal government organizations based on their estimation of the time required to present all material needed to adequately teach the course objectives.  These minimum hour requirements are in accordance with the SEMS Field Course in the SEMS Approved Course of Instruction.  The hours listed can vary slightly due to factors such as the addition of local materials. 

==========

[sardak]

Thanks for that information.  I can't imagine sitting in those classes any longer than they are now.

Mike

[arajca]

Ideally, ICS-300 should more of a hands-on course than a standard lecture.

[Short Field]

IC 300 and IC 400 had a lot of exercises where the class split into working groups to accompish certain tasks.  In some cases it was developing a Incident Action Plan, in others, it was developing the right structure to manage an incident - and then modifing it as the incident changed.  Lots of discussion on the pros and cons of all the options.

It was a pain having to devote five days to the courses - but I came out with a real working knowledge of how ICS works.  Doing IC 100 (CAPT 116 Pt 2) and IC 200 on-line, I came out with the ability to pass the test...on that day.