National Incident Management System (NIMS) Basic Guidance for Public Information Officers (PIOs)  
 
The Incident Management Systems Division (IMSD) has coordinated with Federal, State, tribal, and local Public Information professionals to develop FEMA 517–Basic Guidance for Public Information Officers (PIOs).  The document provides fundamental guidance for any person or group delegated PIO responsibilities during an incident or planned event when informing the public is necessary.  It describes suggested actions for PIOs during the preparedness, disaster/emergency response, and recovery stages of incident management.  Other important topics for PIOs addressed in the document are:   
 
• The NIMS Incident Command System (ICS) structure and the role of the PIO. 

• The use of tools to help disseminate emergency and preparedness information to the public, such as Web sites and Web blogs.   

• Factors to consider when gathering, verifying, coordinating, and disseminating information to the public and additional stakeholders during an incident. 

• The Joint Information System (JIS) and Joint Information Center (JIC).  This section provides examples of what JIC organizations may look like at various stages of an escalating incident, beginning with sample organizations and functions at the local incident level or initial response stage. 

• Integrating with Federal PIOs and support.  The field level ESF #15 organization and pre-identified tools for communicating with PIOs at the Federal level and across state lines are identified.  

• Required and recommend training courses for PIOs. 


 
In addition to the independent study and ICS courses, the following courses provide PIOs with additional guidance towards performing the Public Information function: Basic Public Information Officers Course (G-290) and Advanced Public Information Officer (E-388).  
 
To access and download the Basic Guidance for Public Information Officers (PIOs) document online or for additional information on the PIO function, visit: http://www.fema.gov.   
 
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