NIMS is revised

In December the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released a revised National Incident Management System (NIMS) which supercedes the 2004 version of NIMS. It appears that there are no major changes that would greatly affect the management of wildland fires. Some of the changes they made were in the following sections: Preparedness, Communications & Information Management, Resource Management, and Command and Management.

In the latter category, the changes included:

• Renamed Intelligence/Information function. The function was renamed the Intelligence/Investigations function in order to clarify the difference between general and specialized information. The mission of the Intelligence/Investigations function is to ensure that all intelligence and investigative operations, functions, and activities within emergency management and incident response are properly managed, coordinated, and directed.
• Added a new section describing the Incident Complex, which is a mechanism to organize multiple incidents within a close proximity.
• Clarified the purpose of Area Command and how it fits into ICS.
• Expanded the Multiagency Coordination System (MACS) section to better define the process of Multiagency Coordination and the elements that make up the System.
• Replaced the term MAC Entities with MAC Groups. Major system elements within MACS now include Emergency Operation Centers (EOCs) and communications/dispatch centers.
• Refined the Public Information Section to more clearly discuss the processes, procedures, and systems to communicate timely, accurate, and accessible information on the incident to stakeholders.
• Expanded the Public Information Section to include a new portion on the four step process of providing information to the public and stakeholders during an incident.

The document explaining the changes can be found HERE.