Group Two Tallahassee Composite Squadron FL Wing, Civil Air Patrol Incident Command System Class Florida State Fire College 11655 NW Gainesville Rd Ocala, FL 34482-1486 (850)284-3677

Welcome to the Florida Wing Group 2 and Tallahasee Composite Squadron ICS Training page. As you know, we have our next ICS/NIMS training event scheduled for September 8-9 at the Florida Fire College near Ocala, FL. This should give everyone a good central location with good facilities and classroom support.

We are working on getting a cost established. I would like for the class to be free, however there are going to be some costs for books, rooms etc. At this moment, the best estimate we can come up with is about $45 ea, books, rooms, both breakfasts and lunches and dinner Saturday night included. While we originally announced $20, we have negotiated meals to be included if we get enough people signed up. Breakfast and Lunch are now included and we are planning a BBQ dinner Saturday night as there is a picnic area with grills onsite. If this does not work out, we can always order out for pizza, but the important thing is that we will eat and have fun together.

Pre-registration and pre-payment is mandatory as books have to be ordered and dorm rooms have to be reserved in advance. While nobody will be arbitrarily turned down, books, rooms, or even a seat in the classroom cannot be guaranteed with less than a week's advance registration and payment. Even if there are seats available based on the attendance roster, consider what would happen if 20 people pre-registered for a class with 30 seats available, and then 20 more showed up expecting to be let in at the door; 10 people will be sent home. Also, based on past experience: seats, books, and rooms cannot be considered as reserved until payment is received. A full refund may not be possible with less than a 1-week notice on cancellation unless someone else takes your slot as some of your fee will have already been spent and I do not plan to eat this cost myself.

Registration and payment are pretty simple: Click here to register and pay online

So what exactly are we doing?

Seriously, we are teaching two concurrent classes, one on ICS300: Intermediate Incident Command System for Expanding Incidents, and one on ICS 100: Introduction to Incident Command System, ICS200: ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents, and IS700:National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction.

The classes are designed and scheduled so that GTLs, GBDs and above etc (primarily experienced Officer/Senior Members) can go through the advanced class (ICS300); at the same time, they can drive a van full of GTMs, MROs, MSA, MS (and future GTM/MRO etc etc, in other words cadets and beginning Officer / Senior Members) who can simultaneously take the beginning classes (100/200/700). If you do not already have 100/200/700, sign up for the Basic Class which covers all 3 of those classes, but if you do already have all of the above, take the Advanced Class. If you're not sure what you should take, the Basic Class is your best bet.

Why are we doing this?

We are aware that some of these classes can be taken online, however it is our experience that you get much much more out of them by taking them in a classroom setting with a live instructor and other students to interact with. You simply learn more, and can actually ask questions, plus there are several tabletop practical exercises (especially in the ICS200 course) that you don't get in the online version of the course.

Of course, ICS300 is only available in a classroom, but it is almost always offered only on weekdays and therefor inaccessible to many volunteers with regular Mon-Fri jobs.

In a much bigger sense, we are doing this because the Federal Government says we have to. Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 states that all agencies and organizations that either receive federal funding or work for those who do must meet certain standards set forth under the National Incident Management System by certain deadlines (which have already passed) or face the possibility of losing federal funding. Some groups have already received letters threatening loss of funding if they do not get on the ball. Col Desmarais, CAP's National Director of Operations has stated that CAP is working on NIMS compliance and that qualified instructors may begin teaching to the standards called for by NIMS. While all of this may seem a little heavy-handed to those not familiar with the reason for NIMS or the problems caused in 9/11 or Katrina by agencies being unable to work together due to different systems, consider the advantages of having all emergency response agencies on a single sheet of music when it comes time for them to all work together on a major disaster.

Recommended training standards are as follows:

Directions to the Florida Fire College

The Fire College is 3 1/2 miles South of Reddick on CR25A. The address is 11655 NW Gainesville Rd, Ocala, FL

To get there, take Exit 358 off of I-75, go almost 1 mile East on CR326 to CR25A, turn left and go North 3 1/2miles. The College is on your right.

Right-click the link for a printer-friendly map. It's big (2MB) so your best bet is to right-click it, save it to your hard drive, then open it and print it.

Supply list

The list of items to bring is really simple: Whatever you need to survive a couple of days away from home plus a couple of other items.

Some things you may wish to consider are:

• Set of BDUs
• Set of Blues
• Set of civillian clothes
• Underwear and socks
• Toilet kit (shaving, soap, etc)
• Towel
• Notebook, pens, pencils
• Small amount of spending money for snacks/drinks
• Open mind
• (optional)Laptop or Memory Stick
• Cadets: CAPF31 or FLWGF500, signed by parents and Commander
• Officers: CAPF17, signed by Commander
• All:
  • 2 copies CAPF60
  • CAP ID Card
  • Social Security card or written SSN if you do not have it memorized (required for FEMA exams)
  • 101 card or documentation of completion of requirements for GES
• Other items as needed

Schedule