NIMS SAR Credentialing and Typing Update

[sardak]

The following is an email I received today regarding the "stakeholder" comments to the revised NIMS SAR typing and credentialing documents. Comments were submitted in March, 2008.

"The final SAR credentialing and resource typing documents reflecting changes from the stakeholder comments were submitted to FEMA [Incident Management Systems Integration (IMSI) Division] from the Work Group this past February [2009] to begin the FEMA final review process. This process has become rather complex over the past year."

  "The SAR documents (and those from all other NIMS Work Groups)  now must go to the FEMA Chief Counsel and then for review by the DHS General Counsel. From there the documents will go to the Office of Management and Budget for up to 60 days. After approval the documents will be posted to the Federal Register for up to 30 days for public comment. As I understand it, this is the next time you will be able to see the updated versions of the SAR credentialing and resource typing documents."

If we ever get to see them again, the updated versions are completely different than the SAR typing and credentialing ("job titles") documents which have been on the NIMS website for several years.

Mike

[RiverAux]

I guess that some folks have never heard that search is an emergency..... 

[isuhawkeye]

building a national standard is not easy

[heliodoc]

Have to agree with Isuhawkeye...

This type of OMB involvement has been with wildland fire for numbers of years

Search is an emergency...but CAP, if it wants to be part of the big show, may have to live with a National standard for training or at least some semblence of a coordinated training program that can plug and play folks into positions.

Now whatever issues come to the forefront, 501(c)3 vs paid personnel, then maybe CAP needs to be aware there are more training standards than what they have.  It may require CAP to train to a standard not of their own.  We may have been in this business "for years," but that does not mean we know everything SAR.  We may need to open our eyes.  For those desiring "hot zone" action, this may be key to CAP's freedom to be true first responders.  Setting up a National standards is a tough business, and for CAP's pesky little 501(C)3 status and risk averse personnel, this may be a way for CAP to get "some action."  This may require training standards to be tighter than we have in CAP and requires more work than creating onlines tests for training validity

I am sure there are folks putting this together that know search is an emergency, they have a tougher time putting it together because it requires an inordinate amount of time putting it together....known to some as "government work." 

[RiverAux]

building a national standard is not easy

I was making more of a general comment about the bureacracy involved in any government project.  SAR is going to be pretty far down on the DHS radar screen as it generally has minimal federal involvement compared to other situations, so I'm not surprised it isn't on the fast track. 

[es_g0d]

I'm glad you're on the case, Mike.  I honestly thought CAP was left out of the typing process.  I generally get blank stares when I ask about it...

(I'm drinking the ICS kool-aid and liking it)