FEMA Announces New National Response Plan (NRP) Online Training

Release Date: January 6, 2005

WASHINGTON D.C. -Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, announced today the release of the new IS-800 The National Response Plan (NRP), an Introduction. This course introduces emergency management practitioners to the NRP, including the concept of operations upon which the plan is built, the roles and responsibilities of the key players, and the organizational structures used to manage response resources. The NRP provides a framework to further ensure all response elements work together whenever this nation and residents are threatened.

"Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, our Nation is resolved to better prepare to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States and reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, major disasters, and other emergencies," said Brown. "These complex and emerging 21st century threats and hazards demand a unified and coordinated national approach to domestic incident management."

The National Response Plan, or NRP, specifies how the resources of the Federal Government will work in concert with state, local, and tribal governments and the private sector to respond to Incidents of National Significance. The NRP is predicated on the National Incident Management System, or NIMS. Together the NRP and the NIMS provide a nationwide template for working together to prevent or respond to threats and incidents regardless of cause, size, or complexity.

The course, located at http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/is/is800.asp, is designed for DHS and other Federal department/agency staff responsible for implementing the National Response Plan as well as State, local and private sector emergency management professionals. The purpose of the course is to introduce the NRP so that students can:

  1. describe the purpose of the NRP,
  2. locate information within the NRP,
  3. describe the roles and responsibilities of entities as specified in the NRP,
  4. identify the organizational structure used for NRP coordination,
  5. describe the field-level organizations and teams activated under the NRP, and
  6. identify the incident management activities addressed by the NRP.

FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.