ICS 700 Lesson 1

WHAT? The National Incident Management System (NIMS) defines the comprehensive approach guiding…

WHO? …the whole community - solutions that serve the entire community are implemented while simultaneously making sure that the resources the different members of the community bring to the table are leveraged across all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), and private sector organizations to work together seamlessly

WHY? …to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the effects of incidents.

WHEN? NIMS applies to all incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity, from planned events to traffic accidents and to major disasters. 

NIMS is a common framework for emergency management and incident response that is applicable to all stakeholders with incident related responsibilities.

The audience for NIMS includes:

•Emergency responders

•Other incident personnel

•Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) such as faith-based and community-based groups

•The private sector

•Elected and appointed officials

•People with disabilities or access and functional needs

The scope of NIMS includes:

•All incidents, regardless of size, complexity, or scope

•Planned events such as sporting events

Incident management is the application of resources by organizations to plan for, respond to, and recover from an incident.

Priorities for incident management in planning, response, and recovery efforts include saving lives, stabilizing the incident, and protecting property and the environment.

To achieve these priorities, incident management personnel use NIMS components in accordance with three NIMS guiding principles:

•Flexibility

•Standardization

Unity of Effort