Bourbon County first responders to undergo training

Several training sessions are coming up for Bourbon County first responders.

Training for incident management team members is scheduled for 9 a.m.-5 p.m. June 18 in the Greyhound Room of the administration building at Fort Scott Community College, 2108 S. Horton.

Another session is scheduled for 9 a.m.-5 p.m. June 25 at the Allen County Courthouse, 1 N. Washington, Iola.

To attend, contact Bourbon County Emergency Manager Keith Jeffers at kjeffers@bourboncountyks.org or Pam Beasley at pbeasley@allencosheriff.org.

Participants will learn about Coordinated NIMS (National Management Incident System) Incident Planner, software that assists first responders and management teams in developing Incident Action Plans.

With the software, responders and emergency managers can work on incident plans at the same time and the software will arrange it in logical order in about 10 minutes. Ordinarily, Jeffers said the information would have to be scanned or someone would have to type it, which could take a couple of hours.

Jeffers has an emergency managers performance grant and Southeast Regional Coordinator Jackie Miller is checking with the state to see if the software can be purchased with it. If not, Jeffers will look for another grant, because the software costs about $2,000 per license.

Jeffers said he would like to purchase three licenses, unless he can obtain more.

Training for I.D.E.A.L. Size Ups is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. June 25 at the Redfield Community Center.

This course will be an overview of the National Incident Management System with an emphasis on how and why to set up an incident command. The class was aimed at firefighters, but law enforcement and Community Emergency Response Team members can also attend.

Created by Jeffers, the course shows first responders how to set up an incident command. "Size up is when whoever is first on a scene looks it over and decides how many more responders they need and they set command," until someone equally, or more qualified, arrives, Jeffers said.

Topics will include who should establish a chain of command; how to create a defined communications strategy; set standards for performance; and provide compatibility and interoperability with all organizations involved with a pre-planned event or actual disaster response.