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Hyrum adopts NIMS as incident-management policy

November 19th, 2009 Posted in Opinion

By Heidi Hansen

HYRUM—A resolution to adopt the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as Hyrum’s official incident code of conduct was unanimously approved by the City Council Thursday.

Blake Christensen, Hyrum city’s safety officer, who spoke in favor of the resolution, said adopting NIMS would be beneficial to Hyrum because it provides a way for everyone to be on the same page and communicate effectively during an emergency. “It’s good because it means everyone has the same objective, we’ll know what the left hand is doing and what the right hand is doing,” Christensen said.

Christensen said the NIMS program was proposed by former President George W. Bush in 2003 in response to some of the problems faced by New York City during the 9-11 attacks.

“If you remember, [New York City] had several operations going and the different operations couldn’t talk to each other,” Christensen said.

NIMS then seeks to unify communication between all incident management teams and create unity of purpose. Christensen also explained that most of the federal funding programs for Fire and EMS teams come through Homeland Security and depend on whether the city is compliant with the National Incident Management System. Therefore to get money for the Hyrum Fire Station, they need the resolution.

Christensen said Hyrum is already in good shape to comply with the program. He said most of the pieces are already there, they just need to be put together and he will need more training for his Fire and EMS teams.

The council also discussed and approved a resolution to renew a Recycling Market Development Zone program in Hyrum that allows businesses who recycle to receive tax credits. “I hope we continue to have businesses that will need this resolution in Hyrum,” Councilman Craig Rasmussen said.

Tags: city council, Hyrum, NIMS