While most people were enjoying their time away from work Saturday and Sunday, 24 department heads and others from area emergency response units attended a National Incident Management System training in the Kenneth L. Earnest Conference Room in the Sheehan Cancer Care Center at Rush Memorial Hospital.

The group included personnel from the Rush County Sheriff’s Department, Rush County EMA, Rushville Fire Department, Rushville Township Fire Department, Waldron Fire Department, Anderson Township Volunteer Fire Department, Rush Memorial Hospital, Manilla Volunteer Fire Department and others who were present for 18 hours of extensive training in incident management.

The training is required in order to obtain future grant monies that each of the agencies utilize to purchase necessary equipment.

“This was a good class. I have been in a number of similar classes where the instructors simply read from the training manual. These instructors knew the book. They did an excellent job,” Nick White of the ATVFD said.

According to Rush County EMA Coordinator Mike Ooley, the training is designed for large scale emergency events that would require responder services for multiple days — perhaps even weeks.

“The training centered on leadership and coordinating manpower in the event of a multi-departmental, multi-jurisdiction emergency,” Ooley said.

The EMA director continued by saying that fire departments have used similar techniques as a command center for a number of years, although the concept is a relatively new to law enforcement agencies.

The weekend instruction also included forming a 14 point incident action plan.

Frank Denzler can be contacted at (765) 932-2222 ext. 106 or via e-mail at frank.denzler@rushvillerepublican.com. To add a comment to this story visit our Web site at www.rushvillerepublican.com.