Boro adopts emergency response system Swannack named coordinator for West Long Branch BY AMANDA BELING Staff Writer WEST LONG BRANCH - The Borough Council has approved a resolution adopting the National Incident Management System (NIMS) to bring its responses to emergencies in line with federal, state and county protocols. "It basically started with the state of New Jersey adopting NIMS, then the counties began to adopt it, and now the idea is for all the local municipalities to adopt it as well," said Borough OEM Coordinator Fred Migliaccio. Monmouth County designated NIMS as the basis for all incident management on Aug. 9. At the Oct. 3 council meeting, the NIMS resolution that was adopted stated that over 50 federal grant programs mandate that NIMS be adopted as a prerequisite for obtaining the grants. NIMS is a management system used by federal, state, county and local governments to manage their first responders, which include but are not limited to law enforcement and fire personnel, Emergency Medical Service (EMS), public works, health department and first aid. "They all manage an emergency pretty much the same way, and it helps the government be more organized to prepare for, prevent and recover from various domestic incidents, regardless of the cause, size and complexity, whether it's a natural disaster or a terrorist event," said Monmouth County OEM Domestic Preparedness Planner Robert Swannack. "Right now, we have National Incident Management System Compliance Assistance Support Tool (NIMSCAST), which is our reporting system for NIMS," he said. NIMSCAST is a Web-based self-assessment tool for evaluating and reporting the status of NIMS implementation activities. "There are seven metrics under FY2007 that must be followed in NIMSCAST," said Swannack. The metrics include community adoption, command and management, preparedness planning, training and exercises, resource management, and communication and information management. Migliaccio said the metrics describe how NIMS is being implemented within the borough. "If there is a fire in the borough, the fire department would be the lead agency in charge of the incident," he said. "If there's a motor vehicle accident without criminal activity, it will fall under first aid or EMS, and if there's a bomb threat or any type of criminal activity, the police department would take the lead." He said that under NIMS, every agency would come together at a designated location. "That's why you have a command post," he explained. "A representative from each agency will be at the command post, and then depending on the incident, a lead agency will be assigned and then duties are assigned from there. "For a larger scale storm, representatives from all agencies still meet, and the same fundamentals apply, but you'll operate out of the borough's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and follow its Emergency Operations Plan," he said. "NIMSCAST is a tool we're using to keep a record of what's been done and what still needs to be done under those seven metrics," said Migliaccio. Swannack noted that incident management was first used by the U.S. Forest Service, and there was a big push to have it implemented nationally after Sept. 11. "Incident management has been used in the country, but it wasn't as unified as it's becoming now. It's basically one type of management system where we're all following the same format for domestic incidents regardless of what they are," he explained. Mayor Janet W. Tucci noted that she's already received her training, but there are different levels of training that are carried out within the governing body as well as in the borough. "The training in the borough is conducted by each individual organization. I believe Mayor Tucci did a class through Two River Council of Mayors," said Migliaccio. There is also a specific course given by the Emergency Management Section of the New Jersey State Police called Instant Command System (ICS) for Executives, which is designed for officials who have policy-making decisions, but not first-response responsibilities. Tucci noted that Swannack will also be taking on the role as the NIMS coordinator for the borough and that he will coordinate the rest of the NIMS training for the governing body.