L0101: Foundation of Emergency Management

This course is part of the National Emergency Management Basic Academy being offered in FY26.

Additional courses are:

L0102: Fundamentals of Threats and Hazards (April 13-15, 2026) at Marshall County EMA

L0103: Planning: Emergency Operations (April 16-17, 2026) at Marshall County EMA

L0105: Public Information Basics (May 4-6, 2026) at Colbert County EMA

L0146: Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program Training Course (May 7-8, 2026) at Colbert County EMA

It is not necessary to attend all of the courses in this sequence.

POC: training@ema.alabama.gov

Course Description: Training objectives for this course are based on the newly established emergency manager competencies that the National Emergency Management Association; the International Association of Emergency Managers; and state, local, territorial, and tribal emergency management professionals have established in coordination with EMI.
The following topics in emergency management are covered in this course: history; legal issues; intergovernmental and interagency context; influencing and organizing; social vulnerability issues; managing stress; collaboration, preparedness, and team building; mitigation, response, prevention, and protection; ethical decision-making; recovery; technology; administration; and the future.

Course Objectives:

• Describe the foundations of emergency management in the United States, including its history, doctrine, and principles, and the role of the emergency manager.
• Identify and explain legal issues in emergency management, including legal authorities for emergency management, potential legal issues, and strategies for avoiding legal risk.
• Describe the intergovernmental and interagency context of emergency management, including the roles of Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government organizations, individuals and households, the private sector, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the emergency management network.
• Explain key factors in serving the whole community, including trends that contribute to disaster complexity, demographic characteristics that influence the disaster needs of community members, and strategies for building the resilience of the whole community.
• Describe how to employ stress management techniques in an organization, both routinely and during or after an incident or period of organizational change.
• Explain the function of collaboration in emergency management, including benefits of and challenges to collaboration in emergency management, strategies and tools for building collaborative relationships, and a process for collaborative problem-solving.
• Explain the relationship between whole community preparedness and achieving Core Capabilities in the Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery Mission Areas.
• Describe key aspects of the Prevention and Protection Mission Areas, including the nature of the missions, guiding principles, and planning issues.
• Describe key aspects of the Mitigation Mission Area, including:
  – How Mitigation supports Preparedness. – Roles and contributions of Mitigation partners at all levels. – The Mitigation planning process. – Strategies for building local support for Mitigation.
• Describe key aspects of the Response Mission Area, including emergency operations planning, initial response actions, resource management, and managing complex incidents.
• Describe key aspects of the Recovery Mission Area, including disaster recovery operations, Federal recovery programs, and emotional recovery strategies for the community.
• Describe the use of technology in support of emergency management, including:
  – Communications technologies. – Technologies for enhancing emergency management. – Technologies for communicating with the public.
• Describe administration in emergency management, including staffing, budgeting and accounting for resources, and information management.
• Apply emergency management knowledge, team building, and people management skills in a simulated environment.

Prerequisites:

• IS-100.C: An Introduction to the Incident Command System, ICS 100
• IS-120.C: An Introduction to Exercises
• IS-200.C: Basic Incident Command System for Initial Response
• IS-230.E: Fundamentals of Emergency Management
• IS-235.C: Emergency Planning
• IS-240.C: Leadership and Influence
• IS-241.C: Decision Making and Problem Solving
• IS-242.C: Effective Communication
• IS-244.B: Developing and Managing Volunteers
• IS-700.B: An Introduction to the National Incident Management System
• IS-800.D: National Response Framework, An Introduction