ANNEX FEDERAL DISASTER PLANS

National Response Framework (NRF):

No formal plan for federal emergency response existed until 1979 when the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) which was charged to absorb emergency response duties from multiple agencies.  In 1988 The Stafford Disaster Relief Act was enacted to establish a system of federal assistance to state and local governments and required all states to prepare emergency operations plans.  It also authorized the FEMA director to prepare a Federal Response Plan (FRP).  The FRP was then augmented by the National Contingency Plan (NCP) through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  The NCP was initially a blueprint for responding to oil spills, which was expanded to hazardous materials.  In 1992, FEMA adopted an all-hazards approach to emergency planning.  1994 saw the Stafford Disaster Relief Act incorporate most of the former Civil Defense Act of 1950. The National Response Framework of 2008 superseded the National Response Plan (NRP) of 2004.

ICS/NIMS:

The NRF calls for the use of the Incident Command System (ICS) and currently National Incident Management System (NIMS) which evolved from the U.S. Department of Forestry’s developed system in dealing with multiple fires and incidents simultaneously allowing their operations to expand or decrease as the circumstances warrant.  Their efforts and foresight were ultimately swallowed up into the state, county and local Fire Rescue and Law Enforcement management programs.  They are making strides to all be working from the same page when it comes to disasters and how we can best respond under the most overwhelming circumstances.