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Training
30 Sep 2009 Free online courses of value to Amateurs
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Free Courses of Value to Amateur Radio Emergency Service Volunteers.
Updated 9/26/09 by Michael Schulsinger, N8QHV
Once an amateur operator is licensed by the FCC and registered as an
ARES member, there are a few free online courses that each ham should
take and many other courses available for optional instruction. Let’s
begin with a few now considered necessary.
If you are in law enforcement, firefighting or emergency medicine, you
have probably already taken most of these required courses. They
introduce you to the Incident Command System (ICS), the National
Incident Management System (NIMS) and the National Response Framework
(NRF). These courses are intended to give every organization responding
to an emergency or disaster a common vocabulary.
Begin by taking any one of six available versions of IS-100 from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Management
Institute (EMI) or ICS-100 (Q462) from the FEMA National Fire Academy
(NFA). EMI Independent Study courses are available at http://training.fema.gov/IS/crslist.asp and NFA courses are located at www.nfaonline.dhs.gov/browse/index.shtm
. It doesn’t really matter which ICS-100 course you take, as all
provide the same introductory ICS information. At the end of the course
you will be offered a course completion certificate. Print one out for
yourself and make copies for your ARES county EC and any emergency
organization that maintains a personnel file on you, such as your Red
Cross chapter, Salvation Army, county EMA, etc.
After ICS-100, I suggest taking IS-700a, NIMS, An Introduction on the
EMI site previously mentioned. Again, make copies of the course
completion certificate for yourself and the various organizations.
Next, return to the EMI site for IS-200, ICS for Single Resources or to
the NFA site for ICS-200 (Q463). Finally, complete IS-800.b, National
Response Framework, An Introduction back at the EMI. Make copies of
your certificates and forward them as before.
With those four courses under your belt, you have many course options before you. Returning to the EMI site, consider taking:
IS-704, NIMS Communications and Information Management
IS-802, NRF Emergency Support Functions #2 - Communications
IS-288, The Role of Voluntary Agencies in Emergency Management
IS-244, Developing and Managing Volunteers
IS-22, Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness
Actually, most of the listed EMI online courses are now available to
you, so take as many as you like. Also note on the EMI website that for
a moderate fee you may obtain college credit for many of these courses.
On the NFA web site, consider taking Q534, Emergency Response to Terrorism.
The National Nuclear Security Administration offers two online Weapons of Mass Destruction courses at www.ctosnnsa.org/Courses.html .
Some colleges and universities have received federal
grants to teach emergency management topics online at no charge to
participants. Many ARES volunteers may qualify through affiliation with
the Red Cross, their EMA, a fire department or local law enforcement to
take these courses. Texas Engineering Extension/Domestic Preparedness
Campus offers a dozen such courses at www.teexwmdcampus.com . Louisiana State University offers ten courses at www.ncbrt.lsu.edu/catalog/catalog.aspx . The University of Memphis offers ten information security courses at www.act-online.net .
As a ham associated with a fire, law enforcement,
Red Cross or emergency management agency, other free courses may be
available through EMI, NFA, state agencies and/or the American Red
Cross. Some even include lodging, meals and travel. Contact the staff
of your volunteer agency for additional training opportunities. If I
can be of assistance, contact Michael Schulsinger at n8qhv@arrl.net.
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1 December 2007 National Incident Management System (NIMS)
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Excerpts from the ARRL ARES E-Letter, 29 November 2007:
NIMS Five Year Plan Means ARES Needs ICS/NIMS Certifications
For those amateurs who are still on the fence about the importance of
advanced training and ICS/NIMS requirements, the draft release of the
Five Year NIMS Training Plan makes for interesting reading. One point
that is made very clearly is that "access to future national incidents
will be restricted to those who have met the mandatory requirements."
Within the next few years, you simply won't be able to obtain
credentials for access without proof of completion of required
instruction.
Also, having volunteers who have not completed ICS/NIMS training may
already be adversely affecting your served agencies ability to obtain
grant money. And, as one of my instructors pointed out to us, "The
Incident Command System wasn't developed by a bunch of egg-heads in
Washington. It was developed on the ground by wilderness firefighters
in California. It actually works!"
ARES leadership also needs to get comfortable with resource typing, and
to start integrating that into their databases. We need to be prepared
to help our served agencies easily fit amateur radio into their
planning and funding requests, and the easiest way to do that is to
resource type our operators and equipment. The draft report is at: <http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=2962>
-- Les Rayburn, N1LF, Shelby County, Alabama EC
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And where can you get this training? Glad you asked:
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National Fire Academy On-Line Training Available
Of interest to hams seeking to complete their ICS/NIMS requirements:
Emmitsburg, Maryland - The U.S. Fire Administration's National Fire
Academy announced the launch of a new web-based online training system
NFAOnline. NFAOnline provides an easy one-stop Web site where
fire and emergency services personnel, first responders, emergency
management personnel, and the general public will find free training
and education programs that they can complete at their own pace.
"Now is the time for us to embrace the future and improve our education
through distance learning," said NFA Superintendent, Dr. Denis Onieal.
"NFAOnline provides another option to help further the professionalism
of the nation's fire and emergency services and strengthen their
ability to combat all hazard emergencies."
NFAOnline provides a user-friendly, state-of-the art training system
with technical support and the ability for the student to immediately
print a certificate and transcript. The primary effort of NFAOnline is
to make available training and materials for the fire service,
particularly those unable to attend resident courses in Emmitsburg,
Maryland.
There are currently several courses available in the new NFAOnline.
Additional courses are in development and will be added as they become
available. Course subjects include Community Safety Educators, Fire
Service Supervision, ICS 100 and ICS 200, Emergency Response to
Terrorism, and Emergency Medical Services.
To enroll in NFAOnline, visit <http://www.nfaonline.dhs.gov/> and browse the course catalog through the 'New Students' option.
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| Skywarn Training
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Updates to schedule will be available (during the training season) during the weekly District 3
ARES Net held every Wednesday at 8:00 pm local time on the 145.11(-) (67
Hz) repeater. Also check the
Dayton Skywarn site and the
National Weather
Service Spotter Page. |
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| ARES Training Net |
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Wednesday evenings at 8:00 PM on the 145.11 /224.16 MHz (67hz tone)
WCOARA repeater system.
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| District 3 EC Meeting |
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TBA
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| ARRL EmComm Courses |
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Course Listing
Level 1 (EC-001): Registration generally opens on the first Monday of
each month.
Level 2 (EC-002): Registration generally opens on the second Monday
of each month.
Level 3 (EC-003): Registration generally opens on the third Monday of
each month. |
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