Last time I devoted space to this issue, I was crying because FEMA had failed to consider the geospatial community when developing the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Guidelines for the Credentialing of Personnel. Now, I'm crying tears of joy. At long last, FEMA through the National Integration Center (NIC), is for the first time proposing position qualification standards for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) personnel who are participating in a disaster as either an individual or part of a team. Details were released Monday, June 17, 2013. Comments about these standards must be received by June 28, 2013. To review the position descriptions and offer comment, use the links below:
Links below updated February 27, 2014
Comment Form used to respond for National Engagement (XLSX, PDF)Links below updated February 27, 2014
Announcement Document: NIMS Alert 05-13
Comment: Oh, happy days! At least two biggies out of this:
- Geospatial support just became a reimbursable activity during Federally declared disasters, and
- Working knowledge of the U.S. National Grid is now a defined standard of performance for geospatial personnel!
Who do I send the flowers to in Washington, DC?
Links to documents "(PDF)" are broken, but use the "Announcement Document: NIMS Alert 05-13" link to get to them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback! Links updated as suggested.
ReplyDeleteActually before FQS was Credentialling. Also with GIS standards. And even with FQS they still hire people outside of FEMA with no regard to the FQS components and call them Managers. Nothing new here. Move along.
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