By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Niles Charter Township beat the federally imposed deadline for emergency training courses.
Township fire chief Gary Brovold Thursday turned documents over to Lt. Mike Bradley of the Berrien County Sheriff's Department showing 53 employees of the municipality were certified. Brovold said all full time employees of the township, including elected council members and department of public works personnel, earned certification.
"If everybody's done, it's a done deal and we're 100 percent ready to go," Brovold said.
Bradley, who is the county coordinator of emergency management, said Niles Charter Township was one of the first to complete the courses and exercises.
"They've done the most work so far," Bradley said.
The deadline for all municipalities to meet the emergency training standards set by the Department of Homeland Security is Sept. 30. Bradley said some agencies in the county are a little farther behind others but added he expects everyone to be compliant at the end of the month.
The training is part of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The courses and terminology are the same across the country.
"The goal is to get everybody in the country speaking the same language, so it doesn't matter if you come from Oklahoma, California or Florida," Brovold said.
The instruction is offered in a classroom setting, as take-home lessons and online.
"The best way, probably the biggest way this was done was through the Internet," Bradley said.
Included in the classes was training in incident command systems, which Brovold said explained who's in charge of what during an emergency operation. Bradley added many agencies in the county have exceeded the amount of training demanded, included Niles Township.
"I think there is a lot of townships that are going a little bit farther then they need to be," Bradley said.
Brovold's department conducted a training session last month during the Brandywine High School battle of the bands competition. A triage center and helicopter landing area were both set up for the event and Brovold said they also had support from the sheriff's department and 911 dispatchers.
"When we have a special event like that we need to have a plan," Brovold said. "We had no idea how big this thing was going to be but we planned for a big event. We tried to get beyond what we needed to be."
Meeting the requirements set by the federal government makes the township eligible for funding in the future, Bradley said. He added whether or not a municipality completes the training effects the consideration for a number of federal grants, including federal preparedness grants, transportation grants, agriculture grants and others.
Bradley said no extension on the Sept. 30 deadline has been announced. He added the continuation of the first two emergency training courses start Oct. 1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year.
For more information on Berrien County emergency management training contact Bradley at (269) 983-7111 ext. 7215.