PIO Resource Manual: National Incident Management System

Emergency Management: Higher Education

Washington state requires colleges to mitigate, prepare, respond and recover from emergency situations.

• Each college will coordinate emergency response activities using an Incident Command System (ICS).

The Washington State Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan states that state colleges and universities have responsibilities for supporting these four phases of emergency management.

The following FEMA courses provide a general overview of the Incident Management System (ICS), emergency preparedness and response, and the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

• IS-100.C: Introduction to Incident Command System, ICS-100
• IS-200.B: ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
• IS-363: Introduction to Emergency Management for Higher Education
• IS-700.A: National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction
• IS-800.B: National Response Framework, An Introduction

In addition, the 3-day in-person MGT 361 Managing Critical Incidents at Institutions of Higher Education trains college officials and response partners on applying and using an all-hazards, multi-disciplinary command structure specific to higher education.

Emergency Management: Public Information Officers

Public Information Officers play a vital role in emergency response and an Emergency Operations Center.

FEMA’s National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) requires key personnel — including community and technical college communication managers — to get NIMS training.

Pages 23–30 of the NIMS document give an overview of the role of communications officers.