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Madeline RobinsonAnthropology 470:Final Draft

National Incident Management System helps in reducing communication related problems

Emergency services, such as the fire department, police department and paramedics

depend on the reliability of their communication equipment. Since the enactment of the National

Incident Management System (NIMS), communication equipment and training has improved

immensely, which in turn has had a major impact on communication related problems.

Throughout this paper, I will be exploring the history of NIMS, the difference between a full-

time and volunteer fire department, Incident Command System, pre and post – NIMS radio

systems, and St. Cloud’s and Kasson’s required training to maintain an active fire fighter status.

NIMS was enacted in March of 2004, with a revision around four years later in December

2008. The purpose of this nationwide presidential directive was to get everyone “on the same

page” when it came to dealing with any potentially harmful situations. The major reason for the

creation of NIMS was the communication equipment and structure during the 2001 terrorist

attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. NIMS is based on two older programs

called Fire Resources of Southern California Organized for Potential Emergencies

(FIRESCOPE) and National Inter-Agency Incident Management System (NIIMS). The

combination of concepts and policies from both programs, and a few tweaks here and there,

created NIMS which unites all levels of government under one set of policies and procedures.

When asked what NIMS was in his own words, Deputy Chief Wunderlich of the St. Cloud Fire

Department says, “it is a system that pushes you to work together for a common goal.” (Deputy

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Chief Wunderlich, 2015) Based on my ethnographic research on the St. Cloud Fire Department, I

can conclude that NIMS has helped reduce the number of communication related problems.

I focused most of my attention on the St. Cloud Fire Department, which is considered to

be full-time, but I also frequently refer to, use examples, and compare with Kasson’s Volunteer

Fire Department. What is the difference between a full-time and volunteer fire department? The

amount of hours worked, pay, titles, and sometimes training requirements. In a full-time fire

department, like St. Cloud, fire fighters work an average of 56 hours a week. They work in 24

hour shifts, which run from 8 A.M. to 8 A.M. After three 24 hour shifts, they get 96 hours off.

There are three groups, group A, B, and C that rotate 24 hour shifts. In St. Cloud, the average

yearly salary is $42,984. (St. Cloud Fire Department 2010) When it comes to titles, refer to Table

1. All titles are represent in the St. Cloud Fire Department. I will touch on training requirements

to become a St. Cloud fire fighter later on. Kasson’s Fire Department runs a little different than

St. Cloud since its volunteer. The amount of hours worked depends on the amount of calls and

the fire fighters availability. All of Kasson’s fire fighters have other jobs so not everyone is able

to come to every call. Pay is also determined by the amount of calls and availability of the fire

fighter. At the end of the year, the city of Kasson pays fire fighters individual on how many fire

calls they responded to that year. So the fewer calls you respond too, the less money you will get

from the city at the end of the year. Kasson also has all but one of the titles present in their fire

department (Table 1). They don’t have Battalion Chiefs because of how small their fire

department is. I will also touch on Kasson’s training requirements later on in my paper.

Title Names

Highest Ranking Chief

Deputy Chief

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Battalion Chief

Captain

Lowest Ranking Firefighter

Table 1. Firefighter Ranking

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One of the main aspects of NIMS that makes it so efficient is the Incident Command

System or ICS. The purpose of the ICS was to develop a systematic communication hierarchy

during emergency and non-emergency situations. ICS was originally created for the program

FIRESCOPE, to help clarify and organize communication commands between different agencies

during wildfires. But, when NIMS was enacted, the ICS was adopted as part of the required

policies that fire departments and other emergency services had to follow to receive federal

funding. In a textbook situation, the structure of hierarchy, according to ICS, usually starts with

the fire chief or another leader or chief of collaborating agencies such as the police department.

In real emergencies, however, generally it is the first arriving officer on the scene who takes the

position of incident commander. According to Deputy Chief Wunderlich, this usually is either a

battalion chief or captain. If a captain does take on the role of incident commander, before the

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arrival of the battalion chief, and if, on arrival, the battalion chief believes the captain is handling

the situation well, the captain may stay on as incident commander. In St. Cloud, who serves as

the incident commander really depends on where in St. Cloud the emergency situation occurs

because there are five fire stations in the city. Not every fire station is the same. The crews at

each station all have to follow the same protocols and procedures, but the mix of firefighters at

each station is unique.

A volunteer fire department, like the one in my hometown of Kasson, Minnesota, is not

so varied when it comes to incident commanders. Since Kasson’s fire department is volunteer

and is the only fire station in the city, the variance of incident commanders is not as likely. There

are usually only three people that become incident commanders during an emergency situations.

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They are Fire Chief Fitch, Deputy Chief Seljan, or Deputy Chief Robinson. These are the usual

incident commanders because at least one of the three response to a fire call. There are

incidences where captains have to take command as incident commander because Kasson’s fire

department is volunteer and not everyone is available for every call.

ICS is important when it comes to helping reduce communication related accidents, but it

can’t take all the credit. NIMS also follows five other mandates that contribute to the reduction

of communication related accidents and the ability to aid in the termination of the emergency

situation at hand. The five mandates are Preparedness, Communication and Information

Management, Resource Management, Command and Management, and Ongoing Management

and Maintenance. Preparedness has to do with the activities and actions related to preparing for

emergency situations. This includes reviewing policies and procedures, updating certifications,

and training. This would include the training on the proper use of the radio system, how ICS

works, and more related to understanding communication policies and equipment.

Communication and Information Management has to do specifically with the radio system itself.

In this case, they are talking about the 800 MHz radio system required under NIMS. Resource

Management relates more to aiding in the termination of an emergency situation. What resource

management does is it makes sure that the emergency personnel dealing with the situation have

all the resources needed to terminate the emergency situation. So if the situation calls for more

personnel to help with the situation, resource management finds more people to help with the

situation. Command and Management is basically just ICS or in a bigger situation Multiagency

Coordination System, which is similar, if not the same as unified command. The last mandate

Ongoing Management and Maintenance involves the upkeep of NIMS, improving, changing and

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adding new mandates or policies to make NIMS the best and most effective at dealing with

emergency situations.

During my fieldwork, I witnessed a situation where ICS was prominently used by the St.

Cloud firefighters during a severe storm situation.

Part of my ethnographic research took place at “Summertime by George” an event that

happens every Wednesday night at Lake George in St. Cloud, Minnesota during the summer

months. This event resembles a fair. There are food vendors, different booths set up ranging from

local organizations like the Humane Society to local artists displaying their art, and a concert

from popular and local bands. The particular evening when I saw ICS in action was very

unpleasant with heavy rains, crazy gusting winds, and a slightly chilled temperature due to the

emerging thunderstorm. If I remember correctly, we were under a severe thunderstorm warning

and a tornado watch that evening. I was hanging out there with a couple of the St. Cloud

firefighters, Fire Fighter Jody and Battalion Chief Newinski. Word was going around that

“Summertime by George” was going to be canceled because of the emerging storm. Newinski,

who happened to be one of the four incident commanders that evening kept checking in by phone

with Erin, another fire fighter who was located at Station One, and who was closely following

the National Weather Service announcements about the storm’s movements and severity.

Whether or not the event would be cancelled depended on the information being relayed to

Newinski from Fire Fighter Erin.

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I had the opportunity to listen in and observe the discussions and decisions being made in

the mobile command vehicle, an RV shared by the fire and police department, about whether or

not to cancel the event. Inside the mobile command vehicle, all four of the incident commanders

met up. This included Battalion Chief Newinski, the superior of the St. Cloud Police that night,

Vendors

Parking Lot

Police / Firefighter Tent

Stage

Figure 2. “Summertime by George Map

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the head of the rotary, who hosts “Summertime by George,” and the mayor of St. Cloud. During

this meeting, the incident commanders discussed whether they should close down the event for

the night and when should we close down the event because of the emerging thunderstorm. Some

wanted to close it down right then and there, but others wanted to wait it out to see if the storm

would change direction. The decision was made to wait it out for a little bit. As we waited, the

storm got closer to St. Cloud, and more intense. The decision then was changed for the event to

be canceled at six P.M. For some reason, the cancellation was overturned and the event

continued, but the overturn didn’t last long. About ten too fifteen minutes later, I spotted

lightening and reported it to Newinski and about the same time the main band scheduled to play

that night refused to play in the rain. By looking at the sky, the rain wasn’t going to be letting up

anytime soon and the event was then official canceled at 6:30 P.M.

The four incident commanders also called unified command came to the decision to

cancel “Summertime by George” based on the weather updates from the National Weather

Service and wanting to keep the public safe. Each of the four incident commanders were the

incident commanders for their departments. Battalion Chief Newinski was incident commander

for the fire department, the highest ranking police officer that night was the incident commander

for the police department, the head of rotary was incident commander of the rotary and the

mayor was incident commander of the city of St. Cloud. If you look at the situation all together,

Newinski was the incident commander of the situation as a whole. I didn’t get to hear what

unified command was saying, but I can assume it had to do with the best way to keep the public

safe and when this storm was getting too dangers for the public. What I observed watching the

four incident commanders were formal, respectful opinions being presented on what should be

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done. It looked like after everyone had voiced their opinion, Battalion Chief Newinski had the

final say.

The procedures just described, which led to the cancellation of “Summertime by

George,” demonstrates that the St. Cloud Fire Department does comply with NIMS. This can be

seen through reduced communication related problems, which are the result of changes in radio

systems and training practices. To gather more information about current and past emergency

radio communication practices and training procedures, and how these had changed due to the

implementation of NIMS, I interviewed Deputy Chief of the St. Cloud Fire Department on

October 13, 2015.

I interviewed the Deputy Chief of the St. Cloud Fire Department on October 13, 2015.

During the interview, I asked Deputy Chief Wunderlich about the radio system that the fire

department had previously used and how it differed from the current 800 MHz radio system

implemented after NIMS. He was unable to remember the former type of radio and its specifics,

but he was able to recall some of its basic features. The former system had five or six channels,

none of which were connected to Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) or the police

department. If the fire department wanted to get in contact with either, the EMTs or the police,

they would first have to radio dispatch and dispatch would relay the message to EMTs or the

police, after which dispatch would relay the response of the EMTs or the police back to fire

department. This sounds like a version of the children’s game of “Telephone,” in which the

information being relayed has to pass through so many messengers that it ends up being twisted

and incorrect when it arrives at its final destination. When the message has to do with emergency

responses by fire or police department, such causing communication problems can be serious and

could possibly causes accidents. The pre-NIMS system described by Deputy Chief Wunderlich

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sounded similar to the pre-NIMS radio system the Kasson Fire Department also had used before

upgrading to the 800 MHz radio

system. I’m sure St. Cloud had

similar if not the same past radio

system. Figure 2 is the top view of

the controls of the pre-NIMS

radio system previously used at

the Kasson Fire Department.

Number one is pointing to

the power and volume knob. To

turn the radio on, an operator must

twist the knob clockwise. The

farther clockwise you go, the louder the volume on the radio gets.

Number two is pointing to the emergency button or sometimes called the panic button. When

pushed, this button sends a silent alert to dispatch and dispatch can tell which emergency service

has pushed the button and which radio it came from. Pushing this button silences all other radio

communication to help deal with the emergency at hand. Dispatch can also turn on the radio

microphone and listen to what is going on during the emergency situation. This feature can be

used to help send the right emergency service to the situation. However, the panic button was

deemed unusable by the fire department because it is almost impossible to press that button when

an individual is wearing thick fire protective gloves. Finally, number three is pointing to the

channel selector. Even though this radio has 16 channels to choose from, only about five or six

were actually used.

Figure 3. Pre-NIMS Radio

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The St. Cloud Fire Department now uses the standard 800 MHz radio system, which

they switched to in 2006 when NIMS policies were fully instituted. A reconfiguration of the 800

MHz system bandwidth system was implemented in four stages, or “waves.” Wave 1 began in

2005, and full implementation was achieved with Wave 4 in October 2006. The state of

Minnesota was in Wave 2 of the implementation process, and began its reconfiguration in

January of 2006. The problem with the old system band was the, “increasing levels of

interference and “dead

zones” as a result of

commercial wireless

carriers operating in the

same or adjacent

spectrum bands.” were

causing radio systems to

cut out and making the

range of these radios

very limited. (800 MHz Transition Administrator 2013)

This new reconfiguration was designed to, “…alleviate this interference by spectrally separating

the two types of systems.” (800 MHz Transition Administrator 2013) With the reconfiguration,

radio range improved immensely with the new 800 MHz radio system. These new radios were a

drastic improvement from the pre-NIMS radio system. The 800 MHz radios cancel out all

background noise making it very easy to hear the person talking. They also have the capability to

talk directly with other emergency services, such as the police and EMTs because of the radios

talk groups.

Figure 4. National reconfiguration chart by state

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During the interview, I got a

look at the talk group channel list and it

was a little overwhelming by how

many there were. The best way to

describe a talk group is by using an

analogy. A talk group is like the many

different files in a folder. That folder is

a frequency. That frequency holds

many different talk groups which helps

save on the amount of frequencies

used. There had to be at least 30 or so

talk groups, but only between three and five are used on a

daily basis.

The 800 MHz radio system has some of the same features as the pre-NIMS radios. Figure

5 shows the controls of the 800 MHz radio. Number one is pointing to the power and volume

button. This knob also has to be turned clockwise to turn on the radio and to adjust the volume.

Number two points to the emergency or panic button as seen in the pre-NIMS radios as well.

The technological upgrades are only the first part to helping improve communication, if

you don’t train personnel on how to use them, the new technology is not going to be any help in

improving communication. Since NIMS, not only did technology have to change, but training

practices and requirements as well. Depending on your rank, determines what type of training

you are required to take. All required training for emergency personnel, hospital staff, public

health personnel, public works personnel, and many more is through the Federal Emergency

Figure 5. Top view of 800 MHz radio system

1

2

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Management Agency (FEMA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

FEMA is a government agency, which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security, the

same department that created and implemented NIMS after 9/11. According to FEMA, the basic

training requirements to become a certified firefighter is IS-700 and ICS-100. IS-700, “is a Web-

based awareness level course that explains NIMS components, concepts and principles.” (NIMS

Integration Center 2005) ICS-100 is also another online introductory class that focus on basics of

what the ICS system is and how it works. In addition to the two FEMA classes, there are a few

other training requirements needed to becoming an active firefighter.

First off, you’re required to be at least 18 years of age and depending on the fire

department, required training may vary. The St. Cloud Fire Department requires more training

before hire than Kasson, but both fire departments have the same training. Training required

upfront really depends on if the fire department is full-time or volunteer. Size and number of

stations might also have an impact on training requirements as well. To illustrate the differences

in training, take a look at the Table 2 below comparing St. Cloud, which is a full-time fire

department and Kasson, which is volunteer fire department.

Training Requirements for St. Cloud and Kasson FireSt. Cloud Kasson

Application X XInterview X XPre-employment ExamsBackground Check X XMedical Examination XPsychological Screening XDrug Test XFitness Test X XTraining

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Written Exam X XPhysical / Agility Test X XMedical Training X XAnnual OSHA Training X XMonthly In-House Training X XSeparate Radio Training (Kasson only) X

From looking at the Table 2, Kasson’s required training is almost exact to St. Cloud’s, except for

the separate radio training. A few other things in the pre-employment exams category are

different from St. Cloud as well. Again, since St. Cloud has a full-time fire department, there are

more required trainings and certifications.

Table 2. Training Requirements for St. Cloud and Kasson Fire Department

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To even be considered for a position on the St. Cloud Fire Department, you have to have

completed Firefighter I and II training courses, which are college courses that review the basics

of being a fire fighter. Some of the topics included in Firefighter I are job duties, equipment

used,

communication,

firefighter safety,

wildfires, water

systems, fire

prevention, ICS, etc.

Once you get into

Firefighter II, you

are learning more

hands on information about aspects of the

job such as rescue, fire control, ventilation, etc. On completion of these two courses, you must

take an additional test which includes a written test and a practical test on the information you

learned in Firefighter I and II to receive your MN certification card. The final criteria required

before applying to the St. Cloud Fire Department is to have a valid EMSRB card, which is

basically a card saying you are certified to be an Emergency Medical Responder or sometimes

called First Responders. Figure 6 is my father’s EMSRB card. Kasson is similar to St. Cloud in

its requirements, but the difference is Firefighter I and II needs to be taken and passed within one

year of hire and EMSRB certification needs to be completed within 18 months of hire at the

Kasson Fire Department.

Figure 6. My Father’s EMSRB Certification card

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The training mentioned above is basic training required to become a certified firefighter.

Additional courses are required for firefighters in a higher or supervisory ranks such as Captain,

Battalion Chief, Deputy Chief, and Chief. The courses include ICS-300 and ICS-400. ICS-300 is

an in depth look into more specific aspects of ICS. One of these aspects covered is unified

command. Unified command is almost exactly like incident command, but slightly different. To

be more specific, during a unified command situation the leaders, usually the chiefs of all

corroborating agencies work together, by making decisions as a group, instead of having only

one individual making decisions in incident command. Even though decisions are made together,

among the unified commanders, there is an incident commander who has the final say in all

decisions. A great example of unified command being used and the effectiveness of it can be

seen in the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, MN in 2007.

Around the year 2002, the Minneapolis Fire Department applied for a grant to take about

80 emergency service individuals from the city, county, and state to Mount Weather, Virginia.

Mount Weather is the location of center of operations for the Federal Emergency Management

Agency or FEMA. While at Mount Weather, the 80 or so individuals participated in simulated

disasters. They were only allowed to use their current emergency operation plans. After the three

days of simulations, it showed that the city of Minneapolis wasn’t ready for this level of disaster.

The mayor of Minneapolis heard of this and began helping to improve training practices that

would prepare the city of Minneapolis for disasters like the ones practices at Mount Weather.

The improved training definitely showed during the bridge collapse. Without the additional

training, the bridge collapse situation could have been a lot worse. Emergency services personnel

wouldn’t know who to listen to and organization would be non-existent.

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During the bridge collapse, unified command came into effect. The fire department was

the unified incident commander, the police department and the county sheriffs were the other

two agencies involved in the unified command. The fire department was in charge of the rescue

operations alongside Public Works and paramedics. The Minneapolis Police Department and

County Sheriffs were focused on figuring out the cause of the collapse, preserving scene

evidence and making sure no one else got hurt by entering into dangerous areas. Over 50 people

were rescued and off to the hospital in the first 90 minutes. This success rate is due to the unified

command structure. Without the unified command structure, the fire department wouldn’t be

able to talk to the police department or the county sheriffs.

Not only is the structure of unified and incident command important, but also knowing

how to communicate during it. As part of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration

(OSHA) required annual training for fire fighters, communication policies and procedures during

unified and incident command is included. OSHA’s training includes basic radio usage,

emergency situation action plans, fire prevention plans, hazardous chemicals, blood borne

pathogens, etc. The St. Cloud Fire Department has radio training only during the annual OSHA

training, but Kasson has it during the OSHA training and also from the Emergency Management

Director of Dodge County every 18 months. According to Matt Maas, the Emergency

Management Director, “Dodge County Emergency provides training every 18 months to each

public safety agency in the County. We focus on Radio Etiquette, Plain Talk, Talkgroup

(channel) usage, Scanning and Affiliation, Radio Controls. The portion of Talkgroup usage

covers NIMS and proper Incident Command.” This training is presented with a PowerPoint and

has hands on training during the radio usage section. I have talk a little about the radio controls

of the pre-NIMS radios and the 800 MHz radios, and the radio in general, but I haven’t covered

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the way in which you communicate using the radio. One of the aspects of communicating

through the radios is using plain talk or also called plain language.

Plain language is just what it sounds like, using full sentences and real words instead of

codes when communicating over the radio. Before NIMS, code talk was used very frequently.

Each emergency service had their own set of codes, even some government agencies had their

own set. This caused quite a bit of confusion when it came to working together during an

emergency situation. For example Code10-7 could mean more water for one fire department and

mean stay away, danger for the police department. This is why NIMS requires all emergency

services including government agencies to use plain language when communicating over the

radio. It allows for a simply standard of communication across multiply agencies.

Part of plain language is using the NATO Phonetic Alphabet when talking over the radio.

The NATO Phonetic Alphabet takes each letter in the alphabet and assigns a code word for it.

For example, the letter A is assigned the code word Alpha, B is Bravo, C is Charlie, etc. The

reason for the NATO Phonetic Alphabet was to help clear up communication misunderstandings

when it came to the pronunciation a word. This Phonetic Alphabet is used on a daily basis with

the fire department and other emergency services when it comes to communicating information

through the radio.

For example, let’s say there are three groups of firefighters present during a fire call.

Each group heads into the building with a separate task. Group A has to look for individuals

trapped inside the building, Group B is in charge of assessing the buildings structure, and Group

C is assessing the damage to the building. The incident commander was just informed of fallen

wires dangling from the ceiling that are dangerous for the firefighters inside. The incident

commander radios to the groups inside to be careful of the dangling wires. Without the NATO

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Phonetic Alphabet wires could be mistaken for fires and the firefighters could be injured by the

wires. With the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, the firefighters will know the last word being spoken

is wires not fires. How the firefighter would distinguish between the word fire and wire is by

spelling the words out with the NATO Phonetic Alphabet. So the incident commander would

say, “Be careful of the Whiskey-India-Romeo-Echo.” The firefighter would than know to be

careful of the wire. If the example would have been a real situation, without the NATO Phonetic

Alphabet the fire fighters inside could have been seriously hurt or possibility died. This is why

not only the NATO Phonetic Alphabet is important, but plain language in general. It helps save

lives by helping eliminate the chance of miscommunication from misinterpreted radio

information.

NIMS is so important when it comes to helping reduce communication related problems.

Policies and procedures like the Incident Command System (ICS) helps keep an organized

command structure when it comes to effectively dealing with an emergency situation. The I-35W

bridge collapse in Minneapolis, MN proved that the ICS structure of command worked

effectively and efficiently by the incredible rate of rescues in the first 90 minutes of the disaster.

The 800 MHz radio systems also contributed to the success rate achieved during the I-35W

bridge collapse by helping to eliminate communication related problems. The 800 MHz radios

have a better range, background noise is nonexistent and talk groups help emergency services

talk directly to one another. Training requirements also have an influence on the reduction of

communication related problems, like the two introduction classes, IS-700 on NIMS in general

and ICS-100 on the Incident Command System and more advanced courses on more complex

emergency situations.

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What I think is the most influential aspect of NIMS that helps reduce communication

related problems is radio training on the proper use of the 800 MHz radio system and how to

communicate through it to others during and emergency situation. This includes knowing how to

turn on your radio, switch channels/talk groups, basically the basic functions and controls of your

radio. Using radio etiquette, and understanding and using plain language when talking over the

radio is also included. What makes plain language such a great aspect of NIMS is it gets

everyone on the same page when trying to communicate information through the radio by using

the NATO Phonetic Alphabet.

NIMS in general is wonderful and from conducting my ethnographic research on the St.

Cloud Fire Department I can conclude that NIMS has helped reduce the number of

communication related problems.

Work Cited

800 MHz Transition Administrator.

2013. The 800 MHz Reconfiguration Program. 800 MHz Transition Administrator.

http://www.800ta.org/content/resources/Reconfiguration_Overview_Fact_Sheet.pdf Date

Assessed 11/3/2015.

FEMA.

2008. ICS-300: Intermediate ICS for Expanding Incidents. The Department of Homeland

Security. Date Assessed 12/13/2015.

Fire Fighter I Training Record.

2001. Fire Fighter I. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/training/pdf/TFireFighterITrainingRecord.pdf Date Assessed

11/22/2015.

Fire Fighter II Training Record.

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2001. Fire Fighter II. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/training/pdf/TFireFighterIITrainingRecord.pdf Date Assessed

11/22/2015.

Homeland Security.

2011. National Incident Management System Training Program. FEMA.gov.

http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nims/nims_training_program.pdf Date Assessed

11/15/2015.

Hughes, Gerald L.

2014. “Can you Read Me?” Standard Radio Signatures and Terms. Fire Engineering.

http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-167/issue-5/features/can-you-read

me-standard-radio-signatures-and-terms.html. Date Assessed 10/25/2015. Maas, Matt. Interview by Madeline Robinson. Personal Interview. Email, 2/12/2015.

Neamy, Robert and William M. Nevill.

2011. From Firescope to NIMS: How NIMS developed out of the earlier FIRESCOPE

program. FireRescue.

http://www.firefighternation.com/article/command-and

leadership/firescope-nims Date Assessed 11/13/2015.

NIMS Integration Center

2005. FY 2006 NIMS Training Requirements. FEMA.gov.

http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nims/06_training.pdf Date Assessed 11/3/2015.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

2015. Training Requirements in OSHA Standards. OSHA.gov. Retrieved from

https://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha2254.pdf Date Assessed 12/20/2015.

St. Cloud Fire Department Staff.

The St. Cloud Fire Department. [Brochure] 2010.

http://www.ci.stcloud.mn.us/DocumentCenter/Home/View/1353 Date Assessed 12/3/2015.

Thompson, Mike. Interview by Madeline Robinson. Personal Interview. St. Cloud Fire

Department’s Station 1, 13 Oct. 2015.

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Wunderlich, Steve. Interview by Madeline Robinson. Personal Interview. St. Cloud Fire

Department’s Station 1, 13 Oct. 2015.