News

On January 22, National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg participated in a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press conference to announce the National Response Framework (NRF). The stated purpose of the NRF is, “To ensure that government executives, private-sector and nongovernmental organization leaders, and emergency management practitioners across the nation understand the domestic incident response roles, responsibilities, and relationships in order to respond more effectively to any type of incident.”

The NRF is an updated version of the National Response Plan (NRP) which has been in place since 2004. The NRF incorporates input from stakeholders, lessons learned, and best practices developed since the NRP was implemented. The NRF will go into effect on March 22.

Emergency response is primarily a local function. When a local jurisdiction exhausts its available resources it can request additional assistance. This most commonly comes in the form of mutual aid from neighboring jurisdictions. When catastrophic incidents occur, state and federal resources can be deployed. The NRF establishes the roles and responsibilities of the various entities involved in different types of responses. Under the NRF, incident command remains a local function even when federal resources are deployed except in rare incidences where local entities are temporarily unable to lead the response.

The NRF document is available for download at www.fema.gov/NRF. Additional materials such as annexes, appendixes, partner guides, and other reference documents are also available on this web site.