Texas Fire World
March-April 2005

The Department of Homeland Security has announced the release of a new course on the National Response Plan. The Course, IS-800, The National Response Plan, an Introduction, will focus on concepts pertaining to plan operations, roles and responsibilities of those involved, and organizational and management responsibilities.

The course was created by DHS in order to help the nation to be better prepared in the event of future terrorist attacks such as 9/11. With advancement of terrorist threats and hazards, the course will assist in providing a unified approach to incident management.

The NRP specifies how state, local, tribal governments and the private sector will work with the federal government in response to Incidents of National Significance. The plan is predicated in the National Incidents Management System (NIMS). Both programs work together in order to provide prevention and response to threats and incidents nationwide. State, local, and private sector emergency management professionals can register for the course online at: http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/is/is800.asp.

The course will introduce the NRP in order that students may:

- Describe the purpose of NRP

- Locate information within the NRP - Describe the roles and responsibilities of entities as specified in the NRP

- Identify the organizational structure used for NRP coordination

- Describe the field-level organizations and team activated under the NRP

- Identify the incident management activities addressed by the NRP