What is the difference between NRF and NIMS?

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) provides a systematic, proactive approach to guide departments and agencies at all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work seamlessly to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity, in order to reduce the loss of life and property and harm to the environment. NIMS works hand in hand with the National Response Framework (NRF). NIMS provides the template for the management of incidents, while the NRF provides the structure and mechanisms for national-level policy for incident management.

HSPD-5 directed the development of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and National Response Plan (NRP), superseded by the National Response Framework (NRF) in 2008.  To support nation-wide implementation of NIMS and the NRF, the DHS/FEMA Emergency Management Institute (EMI) has developed a number of web-based Independent Study (IS) courses that provide overviews of relevant NIMS and NRF topics.

While these courses are available as web-based training, upon request EMSI can deliver them in classroom and webinar formats.

IS-100: Introduction to the Incident Command System

IS-200: ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents

IS-700: National Incident management System, An Introduction

IS-701: NIMS Multiagency Coordination System (MACS)

IS-702: NIMS Public Information Systems

IS-703: NIMS Resource Management

IS-704: NIMS Communication and Information Management

IS-706: NIMS Intrastate Mutual Aid – An Introduction

IS-800: National Response Framework, An Introduction

IS-208: State Disaster Management

IS-235: Emergency Planning

IS-293: Mission Assignment Overview

IS-775: EOC Management and Operations

IS-2900: National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) Overview

The various local, state, and federal emergency management systems of the United States suffered a crude awakening in the decade of the 2000s. Systems expected to hold up were put to the test and failed to prepare for disaster, mitigate the damage, and, in some instances, actually hampered responses in life-or-death situations. Worse, all failings were highlighted in an age of global communication and mass media, on display first whether a man-made incident like September 11th attacks or natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina. The decade found the complacent government failing to maintain modern emergency management practices, stimulating began a series of doctrinal upgrades and training improvements. Yet, no matter the bureaucracy, writings, or money thrown at a problem, the first responder to the incident has and will continue to influence the outcome. While the individual responder stands as the most important part of…show more content…
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would become the central point-of-contact within the national government in responding to incidents. Since formation in 1979, FEMA’s core missions were to enhance the government’s ability to survive a foreign attack, and to assist state and local authorities in disaster response (Carafano, 2005). And while the two core missions seem heterogenous in scope at times from an outside perspective, the biggest difference between the two tasks is duration. A man-made disaster may be over in a matter of minutes as compared to a hurricane lasting several days, but in both instances the road to recovery is long. In order to streamline response and recovery in either scenario, FEMA was reorganized with new directives to support comprehensive emergency management practices (CRS, 2006). Today, FEMA provides the standard approach and guidance that many local communities may not have due to funding, training, and

Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-5, Management of Domestic Incidents, directed the development and administration of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). NIMS provides a consistent nationwide template to enable Federal, State, local  and tribal governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector to work together to:

• prevent,
• protect against,
• respond to,
• recover from, and
• mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity.

NIMS works hand in hand with the National Response Framework (NRF). NIMS provides the template for the management of incidents, while the NRF provides the structure and mechanisms for national-level policy for incident management. NIMS represents a core set of doctrines, concepts, principles, terminology, and organizational processes that enables effective, efficient, and collaborative incident management. NIMS includes:

• a unified approach to incident management called the Incident Command System (ICS);
• standard command and management structures; and
• an emphasis on preparedness, mutual aid and resource management.

EPA's Office of Emergency Management began implementation of NIMS in 2005 providing ICS training to On Scene Coordinators and Response Support Corp members. Training concepts are tested during annual exercises both at the regional and national level. Additionally, each region has established Incident Management Teams, with trained and EPA certified personnel in ICS Key Leadership Positions (KLP) which are critical to EPA responses.

EPA has also established a National Incident Management Assistance Team (NIMAT) to provide support to impacted regions during large scale or long duration responses such as hurricanes or earthquakes. The NIMAT provides a team of ICS experts who can provide coaching or step in to a KLP when needed. The NIMAT is deployed to support the region by the National Incident Coordinator (Director, Office of Emergency Management) in consultation with the impacted region.

The NIMS and NRF are companion documents and are designed to improve the Nation’s incident management and response capabilities. While NIMS provides the template for the management of incidents regardless of size, scope or cause, the NRF provides the structure and mechanisms for national level policy of incident response.

Together, the NIMS and the NRF integrate the capabilities and resources of various governmental jurisdictions, incident management and emergency response disciplines, non-governmental organizations, and the private-sector into a cohesive, coordinated, and seamless national framework for domestic incident response.