In compliance with Federal regulations and California statute, the Irvine Unified School District uses the National Incident Management System (NIMS) in its emergency plans and procedures. All Irvine Unified School District emergency plans are based on the Incident Command System (ICS) - a nationwide standard and a component of the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS).
Established on March 1, 2004, by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD-5), NIMS specifies the standardized methods all emergency responders should follow to plan, coordinate and carry out responses to a variety of emergency incidents. It allows schools and local agencies to jointly manage incidents, regardless of their causes, sizes, locations or complexities. Local jurisdictions, including school districts that receive Federal emergency preparedness funding, are required to comply with the NIMS.
The Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) is the system required by California Government Code Section 8607(a) for managing emergencies involving multiple jurisdictions and agencies. All state government agencies must use SEMS when responding to multi-jurisdictional or multi-agency emergencies. All local government agencies must use SEMS in multi-jurisdictional or multi-agency emergency responses to be eligible for state reimbursement of response-related personnel costs.
ICS, a component of NIMS and SEMS, is a management system designed to enable effective and efficient incident management by integrating a combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure (e.g., the District Emergency Operations Center).
