After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the United States developed a system to streamline how public safety agencies work together.
The National Incident Management System is a standardized approach to incident management. It establishes five key functional areas when responding to an emergency or disaster: management, operations, planning, logistics, and finance/administration.
The system has been used throughout the county for many years, but recently Hamilton County Emergency Management (HCEM) implemented it at a fundamental level by enhancing job descriptions and titles to align with the system. This ensures personnel complete national-level training and applies this new information to their emergency and disaster preparedness and response roles.
“We are the only county in the state with the staffing, training, and experience to meet these requirements,” HCEM Executive Director Shane Booker. “The training has been difficult to find due to COVID, and we were fortunate the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency was gracious enough to allow us to send some of our personnel to courses they offered. I am incredibly proud of the staff who embraced this change to make Hamilton County better prepared for emergency response operations.”
Those who completed the training are:
- Shane Booker and Ryan Tennessen, Unified Incident Management
- Dylan Powell, Operations Section Chief
- Indiana Prati, Planning Section Chief
- Michael Franklin and Tony Peterson, Logistics Section Chief
- Pam Eldridge, Finance and Administration Section Chief
As a county public safety department, emergency management provides support and coordination to all municipalities and unincorporated areas during an emergency using the National Incident Management System. To learn more, visit hamiltoncounty.in.gov/em.
About Hamilton County Emergency Management
Hamilton County Emergency Management is a county public safety department tasked with supporting all municipalities through information coordination, resource management, and consequence management. HCEM is Indiana’s largest emergency management program, with seven full-time and two part-time employees and four volunteer programs with nearly 200 active volunteers.