About Emergency Management & Preparedness

This District Level program is under the National Q-Directorate.

The Auxiliary Emergency Management (EM) program assists the Coast Guard by establishing processes to select, notify, and deploy Auxiliarists to support Coast Guard activities during significant incidents. EM strives to provide a means of sharing information, evaluating events, creating contingency plans, and elevating organizational preparedness and resiliency of the Auxiliary. EM strives to ensure that Auxiliarists in the District are always ready to provide the tools and resources necessary to meet the challenges we will face in the next significant event requiring direct Coast Guard support or augmentation.

Emergency Management Support

Within the Ninth Western Region, the EM program is still in its beginning stages but there are already opportunities for interested Auxiliarists.  For those in the greater Chicago area, Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit (MSU) Chicago has identified a need and desire to have Auxiliarists available to support EM missions in two capacities:

• NIMS/ICS Coast Guard Agency Representative (CG-AREP)
• NIMS/ICS Incident Command System Staff (ICSSTAFF)

Both of these positions have a Performance Qualification Standard (PQS), which must be completed in order to qualify.  The CG-AREP training requirements consist of a series of fifteen FEMA independent study courses that are all available through online learning.  ICS Staff training requirements require ICS 100, 200, and 300 levels.  Click on the link to download and view the specific PQS requirements for each position.

If you are interested in becoming involved by completing one of the Incident Management PQSs, please contact the DSO-EM.

Emergency Management Resource

The USCG Homeport web site contains a wealth of information regarding the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS).  This includes information on the National Response Framework, Coast Guard ICS Forms, example Incident Action Plans, Coast Guard ICS position job aids, and ICS position qualification and certification (PQS) workbooks.  These documents are available on the public side of Homeport (no login is required) by clicking on the link above, clicking on Library in the top banner, and selecting Incident Command System in the far left column of the page.

The Coast Guard Incident Management Handbook (IMH-2014) is designed to assist Coast Guard personnel in the use of the National Incident Management System & Incident Command System.

The Incident Action Planning Guide is a document, based on the Incident Management Handbook (IMH), explains the ICS incident action planning and more. The IAP Guide explains how to plan and execute operations during any incident. This document, based on the Incident Management Handbook (IMH), explains the incident action planning process, describes how to use it during incidents, defines the specific roles and responsibilities of the various participants, and established standards for incident action planning during incidents.