The curriculum guidelines for FEMA courses have been collaboratively developed by private and public emergency response experts. The premier federal training center, the Emergency Management Institute (EMI), offers hundreds of courses that teach students how to respond to and manage various emergencies. The EMI offers five primary training topics, each which has unique guidelines for curriculum.
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Professional Development
Because most small communities rely on local emergency response volunteers, the professional development curriculum is geared towards expanding existing capabilities and teaching innovative concepts and management skills. Professional development courses focus on ensuring prompt and effective responses because some rural residents live in very remote areas. Many courses encourage community-based leadership development in conjunction with state and regional agencies. The EMI offers curriculum guidelines for courses like emergency planning, organizational influence, developing volunteers, critical decision making and the fundamentals of emergency management.
Disaster and Recovery Operations
The curriculum for disaster and recovery operations revolve around setting up and maintaining team efforts at all organizational levels. When it comes to disasters, emergency response professionals must coordinate with elected officials, city administrators, regional directors, community planners and emergency managers. They must also communicate with law enforcement, local hospitals and firefighting organizations. The EMI’s disaster and recovery training curriculum is designed to enable local, state and federal agencies to share resources, efforts and information. There are courses offered in radiological emergency response, voluntary organization support, emergency information distribution systems and the Public Assistance Program.
Emergency Mitigation
The key to handling emergencies is proactive prevention systems. Classes on mitigation train emergency responders how to reduce or eliminate the long-term risks to life and property that come from natural disasters, such as floods, landslides, hurricanes, earthquakes and dam failures. The program requirements for these training courses generally require at least a few days in the field. Certain classes require that students visit the Washington, DC area in order to receive face-to-face instruction from representatives of Federal agencies. These include the National Hurricane Program, the National Flood Insurance Program and the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. There are courses offered in community mapping, compliance finances, incident command systems and insurance claims processing.
Technology and Preparedness
The curriculum for these courses are geared towards local and State level organizations. The courses focus on certain emergencies, such as terrorism, hazardous materials and radiological hazards. Almost all emergency response personnel are expected to learn about the Radiological Emergency Preparedness program. There are classes on incident command system for public works, law enforcement and education organizations. Classes are offered on resource, contingency and emergency response planning. All students are expected to take the basic threat and hazard identification and risk assessment (THIRA) class. Emergency response management usually take classes on public alert and warning system (PAWS), mission assignment overviews and how to build emergency response teams.
Integrated Emergency Management (IEM)
The curriculum for this topic addresses how to combine and coordinate emergency response activities between local, state, regional and national levels. There are only a few introductory courses that are offered about integrated emergency management, which involve improvement programs, communication command systems and the multiagency coordination system (MACS). The curriculum in these classes stress the need to seamlessly integrate organizational resources, functions and individuals during all phases of emergency management.
The curriculum guidelines that are designed by FEMA ensure that emergency response personnel are highly trained and competent.
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