EMS

Managing a major response – especially a complex, multi-jurisdictional response – is one of the most important challenges facing the National Response System (NRS). Effective coordination among local, state, and federal responders at the scene of a response is a key factor in ensuring successful responses to major incidents. An Incident Command System/Unified Command (ICS/UC) is an efficient on-site tool to manage all emergency response incidents, and UC is a necessary tool for managing multi-jurisdictional responses to oil spills or hazardous substance releases. Understanding the concepts of ICS/UC is as important for local responders, who generally arrive on-scene first and thus are most likely to implement the management system, as it is for state and federal organizations that may be joining the ICS/UC.

The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) states that the NRS functions as an ICS under the direction of the On-Scene Coordinator (OSC). The NCP also states that the basic framework for the NRS response management structure is a system (such as a unified command system) that brings together the functions of the local government, state government, federal government, and the Responsible Party (RP) to achieve an effective and efficient response. In addition, the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) standards include the Incident Command System for emergency response.

The Suburban Emergency Management Project (SEMP) originated in 2001 with a grant from the Grace A. Bersted Foundation, which provides assistance to organizations in the suburban counties surrounding Cook County, Illinois. Margaret R. O'Leary, M.D., M.B.A., former chair of the M.B.A. program and the Executive M.B.A. for Physicians and Health Care Executives program at Benedictine University (Lisle, IL), served as principal investigator for the grant.

The grant funded four all-day joint public-private invitational SEMP meetings attended by regional leaders of health care, city and county management, public health, public safety, public utility, public works, emergency management, the American Red Cross, Argonne National Laboratory, the broadcast and print media, academia, businesses, and citizens.

The purpose of the four meetings was en masse exposure to evidence-based disaster management theory and practice articulated by national, state, and local experts; immersion in diverse professional cultures in a collaborative setting; development of the “SEMP Model”; cultivation of relationships among partners in disaster management; and publication of an anthology—The First 72 Hours—to document and share the experience with a larger audience.

A subset of original and new SEMP members participated in a second set of SEMP meetings in 2004-2005 to develop a set of reliable and valid community-based disaster-preparedness indicators.

SEMP offers a full spectrum of resources to support any community organization that provides or manages disaster-related services. SEMP publications include Securitas Magazine and Biot Reports (each free), SEMP Academy educational programs, disaster management consulting and custom education, and SEMP books, including the award-winning The First 72Hours: A Community Approach to Disaster Preparedness.

The purpose of NWCG is to establish an operational group designed to coordinate programs of the participating wildfire management agencies.