The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is in Fargo to conduct a four-day Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC), workshop-based training activity for emergency operations personnel to practice simulated, but realistic, crisis situations within a structured learning environment. A substantive application, authored by the Fargo-Moorhead metro community’s emergency managers, was chosen as one of eight American cities to host the IEMC in 2018.
The IEMC combines classroom lectures, discussions, small-group planning sessions and workshop-based training to expose participants to new ideas and increase their awareness of the coordination needed between other agencies and organizations. During the IEMC, participants are assigned roles equivalent to their actual position in the community emergency operations center. The community-specific IEMC builds the inter-dependent awareness, leadership and communication skills needed to develop, refine and implement policies, plans, procedures and mutual aid agreements in a “whole-community” emergency operations center environment.
Over 150 registered members will be taking part in the workshop. The Cities of Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo, along with the Counties of Cass and Clay, have several administrators, department heads and managers in attendance. The police and fire departments of these five entities are also represented. Staff members from North Dakota and Minnesota Highway Patrol are attending, as are representatives from F-M Ambulance, Red River Regional Dispatch Center, NDSU, MSUM, Red River Valley Fair, Hector International Airport and the Cass-Clay Unified School Response team. Metro health organizations, including Essentia Health, Fargo Cass Public Health and Sanford Health, are represented.
“We are extremely proud to host this IEMC in our community. While none of us want to ever witness a complex attack on our metro area, workshops such as the IEMC bring together the various entities and assets to ensure we are continually working to formulate and adapt the best plans to respond to any contingency. This workshop is specifically based upon our unique community demographics and makes it especially helpful for all of us.”