FEMA's Washington State USAR Team Successfully Using IMS Alliance Incident Management Command System Designed to Reduce Injuries, Save Lives
Potential Savings in Response and Recovery Costs Are Significant
KENT, Wash. – According to Tom Miner, Program Manager for FEMA’s Washington Urban Search and Rescue Task Force (WA Task Force 1), personnel accountability is a mandatory requirement and essential for overall safety.
“The passport accountability boards developed by IMS Alliance allowed our managers to track 70 people and four dogs spread out among five separate functional groups,” said Miner. “It was a simple extension of the passport accountability system that is commonly used throughout the fire service in the Pacific Northwest.”
Developed by IMS Alliance and currently viewed as one of the most effective management systems in disaster response, the IMS Alliance product line has fast become “the blueprint for how firefighters, hazmat teams, rescuers, and emergency medical teams respond to incidents.”
Designed to maximize efficiency, improve safety and accountability, the IMS Alliance Incident Management System provides NIMS compliant tools for any organization to work together to prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from disasters; regardless of cause, size, or complexity.
The IMS Alliance Incident Management System is not exclusive to one discipline or one set of circumstances but has the flexibility to help first responders in a wide range of situations, including floods, hazardous materials accidents, earthquakes and aircraft crashes.
IMS Alliance offers more than 25 Incident Command System boards and integrated accessories like vests and shields to effectively deal with incidents from chemical spills and worker injuries, to floods and fires. The incident boards are constructed of durable laminate and are compatible with the Passport Accountability System.
The boards are laid out so that they can easily be used for emergency incident action planning. An assessment flow chart on the back of each board helps to expedite the flow of operations for even those unfamiliar to IMS strategies. An IMS Alliance board can also be fabricated to meet an organization’s current nomenclature and special needs. IMS is also looking to the future by bridging the gap between manual accountability solutions and electronic systems run on handheld computers such as Salamander Technologies. As a Department of Homeland Security approved solution, Salamander provides 80% of all electronic systems currently installed in the United States. “We are proud to be a part of the future of first responder Solutions and a partner in developing such systems with Salamander” said Tim Bell.
About IMS Alliance
The mission at IMS Alliance is to standardize on-scene incident management with tools that allow responders to adopt an integrated organizational structure that maintains safety and accountability, and simplifies overall scene operations without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries.
The company’s Incident Management Boards can assist an Incident Commander in managing small or large-scale incidents and/or training evolutions. Additionally, it addresses such areas to:
• Ensure the Incident Commander has a checklist to assist with scene management
• Ensure that common terminology is utilized
• Ensure that sufficient personnel and resources are dispatched
• Ensure that critical time limits are not exceeded
For more information on IMS Alliance, contact 1-866-371-1670 or visit www.IMSAlliance.com. A Division of Legend Data Systems, Inc.