Training & Exercises

In support of the Division's mission, DHSES delivers and supports training and exercises. There is a dedicated focus to ensure first-responder disciplines (Fire, EMS, Emergency Management, and Law Enforcement) receive the highest level of attention. The Division collaborates on training and exercise initiatives with many government and non-governmental organizations, staff, management, planners and technical groups. DHSES provides training to elected officials and public works, health, technology, and communications personnel.

The State Disaster Preparedness Commission's Exercise Committee coordinates and supports exercise activities, including: training, coaching, evaluation, and after action commitments; and an annual major exercise between stakeholders and partner agencies.

For more information regarding training offered by each Office:

Office of Counter Terrorism
Office of Cyber Security
Office of Emergency Management
Office of Fire Prevention & Control
Office of Interoperable and Emergency Communications

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NYS Office of Counter Terrorism

Today's first response community finds itself challenged with a wide range of continually evolving terrorist threats, requiring continued emphasis on preparedness training and the development of sound strategies to counter these threats. The mission of the Training & Exercise Unit of the Office of Counter Terrorism is to provide training and exercises support to emergency first responders and enhance public safety within New York State. Training is offered at the State Preparedness Training Center, a regional basis and through residential courses of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium. The Office of Counter Terrorism is the State Administrative Agent(SAA) Training Point of Contact for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Preparedness Directorate (NPD), National Training and Education Division (NTED).

The NYS DHSES-OCT Exercise program assists and supports development of local preparedness and response exercise programs by assisting in planning, developing, conducting and evaluating objective-based, scenario-driven exercises, providing technical assistance with Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP) guidance, and providing (loan) a variety of simulation equipment to enhance realism in preparedness exercises.

NYS Office of Cyber Security

The NYS Office of Cyber Security (OCS) is responsible for the development and implementation of cyber security and geographic information systems (GIS) training for both the State and local government. Several methods are used to deliver educational material to our target audiences including end users, technical staff, Information Security Officers, GIS technicians, business managers and elected officials. Live training sessions are recorded and redistributed while other training topics are available via e-learning applications. This training includes major statewide annual conferences, geospatial summits, statewide workshops, as well as online training resources. Our goal is to provide content that is applicable to a broad audience, ranging from large to small organizations.

OCS conducts and/or participates in cyber and GIS exercises, at the local, regional and national levels, as a means to assess and enhance our cyber security and emergency response capabilities.

NYS Office of Emergency Management

The Training and Exercise Program offers both customized curricula developed by State OEM as well as other courses available through our Disaster Preparedness Commission (DPC) partners and FEMA's Emergency Management Institute. The Mission of State OEM Training and Exercise programs as identified in the NYS Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan is to meet the training needs of emergency management professionals across New York State. This is accomplished by developing professional emergency managers and staff through; Professional Development Courses, EOC courses, Position Specific training amongst many others. To assist in compliance with NYS Executive Order #26.1(adoption of NIMS) and HSPD-5, State OEM also provides a number of training opportunities in the Incident Command System (ICS)

State OEM conducts the annual Training Needs Assessment (TNA) which identifies where training gaps within the statewide emergency management community exist. State OEM works with state agencies and federal training partners and other state organizations to provide offerings that addresses discovered needs whenever possible. The TNA provides State OEM with the opportunity to re-assess courses that are being delivered and augment training gaps identified. Please visit the Course catalog, State OEM Training Calendar or the NY Aware/Prepare Training Portal for what may currently be offered by the Public Safety agencies within DHSES.

NYS Office of Fire Prevention and Control

The Office of Fire Prevention and Control delivers a wide range of technical assistance, training, and services to firefighters, emergency responders, state and local government agencies and officials, public and private colleges, and the citizens of New York. The Office advances public safety through firefighter training, education, fire prevention, fire investigation, special operations and technical rescue programs. Firefighter training is offered in our residential program at the Frederick L. Warder Academy of Fire Science and in our Outreach Program where training classes are conducted at fire stations and other venues throughout New York State. The training courses are conducted through the 6 bureaus within OFPC; Arson/Fire Investigation, Fire Prevention, Fire Services, Hazardous Materials and Homeland Security, Special Services, and the Fire Academy.

NYS Office of Interoperable and Emergency Communications

The Office of Interoperable and Emergency Communications (OIEC) facilitates the delivery of public safety communications training to State and local partners. This includes the Communications Unit Leader (COM-L) and Communications Technician (COM-T) courses, two positions that are identified in Incident Command System (ICS) structure. The Statewide Interoperability Coordinator receives input from the response level organizations on training needs from across New York State (NYS), measures these requests against the strategic goals of the NY Statewide Interoperability Communication Plan (SCIP) and works with the Federal Department of Homeland Security-Office of Emergency Communications to obtain and schedule training.

DHSES communications assets, such as Command-1, are utilized in exercises. This provides both an opportunity for DHSES to determine how our assets align with, augment and support the communication requirements of response agencies across NYS, meet the goals of the NY SCIP, but more importantly, train, test and exercise resource capabilities and conditions of readiness.

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On February 28, 2003, the President issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD=5), "Management of Domestic Incidents," which directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop and administer a National Incident Management System (NIMS). This system provides a consistent nationwide template to enable Federal, State, tribal, and local governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector to work together to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity. This consistency provides the foundation for utilization of NIMS for all incidents, ranging from daily occurrences to incidents requiring a coordinated Federal response.

NIMS is not an operational incident management or resource allocation plan. NIMS represents a core set of doctrines, concepts, principles, terminology, and organizational processes that enables effective, efficient, and collaborative incident management.

Building on the foundation provided by existing emergency management and incident response systems used by jurisdictions, organizations, and functional disciplines at all levels, NIMS integrates best practices into a comprehensive framework for use nationwide by emergency management/response personnel in an all-hazards context. These best practices lay the groundwork for the components of NIMS and provide the mechanisms for the further development and refinement of supporting national standards, guidelines, protocols, systems, and technologies. NIMS fosters the development of specialized technologies that facilitate emergency management and incident response activities, and allows for the adoption of new approaches that will enable continuous refinement of the system over time.

 

States and territories play an important role in ensuring effective NIMS implementation; not only must they implement NIMS within State and territory Departments and Agencies, but also ensure that the systems and processes are in place to communicate and support NIMS compliance at all jurisdictional levels. From both Federal and State levels, all "first responder" agencies (including fire, law enforcement, HAZMAT, emergency medical, public works, public health, emergency communications, emergency management, and other agencies involved in disaster preparedness, prevention, response and recovery activities), have received direction to support the nation-wide implementation of NIMS. The long-term goal of NIMS is to provide state, territorial, local, and tribal jurisdictions with a consistent operational framework for all aspects of incident management. This framework should be sustainable, flexible, and scalable to meet changing incident needs and allow for integration of other resources from various partners through mutual aid agreements.

The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services are committed to providing the appropriate guidance and information necessary to assist entities in achieving compliance with the NIMS. Ongoing informational updates will be provided via this website.

OFPC Fire Academy