Emergency plan sparked by 9/11

PROVO — Though no community can anticipate disasters like the recent flooding in southern Utah, agencies around the state and nation are implementing a system to deal with such events more efficiently.

The National Incident Management System — or NIMS — is part of a nationwide plan created by the Department of Homeland Security to improve multi-agency response to incidents like natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

The Utah County Commission recently adopted the system, as all counties must do to receive federal homeland security funding starting in 2007.

When Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced the plan in January, he said though the response plan was drafted largely due to the findings of the 9/11 commission report, it was aimed at improving interagency communication for all major incidents.

"The effort that we're putting into this and the dollars that we're putting into this is because of 9/11, but if we do it right — and we have to do it right — we'll not only be safer and more secure against a potential terrorist attack, but also against man-made disasters, criminal events, Mother Nature," Ridge said.

Utah County's transition into the new system will not require big changes, according to Utah County Emergency Management Director Dave Bennett.

"For us, it really changes nothing," Bennett said. "I think what it's trying to do is bring agencies into using the incident command system, or ICS, which has really been in place for a number of years."

The NIMS system takes the principles of ICS and applies them on a national scale. ICS was first developed in California to manage wildfires, and defines the responsibilities of the various involved agencies and coordinates their functions in addressing a particular incident.

"You don't use incident management on every incident," Bennett said. "But when the magnitude of the incident gets large enough, you start breaking out responsibilities to different entities like law enforcement, or fire and HazMat."

Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy explained the system like this: "It's all about an integrated response to send the right assets to the proper location," he said. "Say if Cedar Fort gets inundated quickly, then the county, through a good NIMS and ICS system knows that in an appropriate time so they can offer their support."

Tracy said the system would then call for each jurisdiction to first notify others that an incident was occurring, and then, whether additional resources are needed.