The U.S. Forest Service has formally approved the new MCS program Organizational Leadership for the C&GS as an alternate delivery option for the NWCG S-420 course. The approval followed an evaluation by a selected group of Federal and State IMT training personnel who evaluated the program for S-420 coverage. Included in the evaluation group were representatives from the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and Fish and Wildlife Service. Also included in the evaluation team were state representatives from Montana and Texas, as well as the Country Fire Authority in Victoria, Australia, and from the NWCG Leadership Subcommittee. The Montana Department of Resources and Conservation provided the independent certification expertise for the attendees, who were mostly USFS personnel but also included students from Australia, Los Angeles City Fire Department and state agencies.
The course was held at the Northern Rockies Training Center in Missoula, MT and followed an Alpha test course hosted by the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and Beta test hosted by the Phoenix Fire Department.
The group recommended approval of the program and made several recommendations for improving the program further in future deliveries. These recommendations are being dispositioned and resolutions rolled into the final package which is being submitted to DHS for national approval.
In 2011 the program (under its former title “Intent into Action”) and MCS received certification from NWCG to deliver the program for credit for L-480, although strongly recommended that the program be used with operational personnel working in IMT environments. The 2012 approval by the USFS, a member of the NWCG, enables any student to receive NWCG credit for both S-420 and L-480 with the new MCS program. The costs associated with delivering both L-480 and S-420 programs is very high when you start to add up all the support costs that are placed on the clients. We expect the new program will prove a more cost-effective solution for federal agency training. The preliminary cost analysis that was conducted by the USFS predicted a 60% savings over delivering the programs independently.
Organizational Leadership for the Command and General Staff represents the next generation of command and general staff training for emergency services. It evolves beyond rote ICS functions to focus on building an integrated environment where process, culture, staff behavior, and leadership all work together to achieve a better result. This type of content doesn’t exist in the current curriculum, and that is what makes the project exciting.
This July we are happy to report that our first new client with the program will be the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami, FL, who will use the course to develop its IMT personnel (L-480 and S-420) in advance of a large maritime exercise scheduled for 2013.
For more information see http://imt-leader.mcsolutions.com/ or contact MCS.
