Schuylkill County Type 5 Incident Management Team  

 Overview and Application

Following the experience of many Schuylkill County fires and other Incidents (Flooding) in the past years, one of the emerging priorities within the Schuylkill County Fire Chief’s Association and Schuylkill County EMA has been developing a Type 5 Incident Management Team.

Initially starting as verbal discussions, the idea grew into a meeting of the Schuylkill County Fire Chief’s Association and Schuylkill County EMA working group.

The Working Group decided that it would develop and present a proposal to the County Chiefs association members.

The thought behind the Working Group’s IMT development was that during any type of natural or Man-made disaster/emergency within the County, many jurisdictions would become overwhelmed in very short order. Many jurisdictions within the County have small populations and their first response agencies are composed of mainly volunteers, or with individuals that serve in more than one position (i.e. Fire Chief and Local Emergency Management Coordinator).

Building a system with a team that will provide consistent support during an emergency is a priority. The IMT will be a trained, multi-discipline, all hazards response resource for an affected jurisdiction to draw on to assist their staff with Safety, Accountability, Operations, command and incident management functions. The IMT will be trained to fill these roles in both tactical field operations and in an Emergency Operations Center.

The IMT will be developed so that they would be able to be fully self-sustained, not drawing any resources from the requesting jurisdiction. Throughout our County an incident that would require the activation of an IMT would also make it impossible for that jurisdiction to provide any support to that team. Therefore, the IMT will come as a complete package, able to meet all of their personal and work needs, for that time period.

Local and Regional Incident Management Team (Type 4 and 5)

 A Local or Regional IMT (Type 5) is a single and/or multi-agency team for expanded incidents typically formed and managed at the city or county level or by a pre-determined regional entity. Schuylkill County IMT Type 5 team is a designated team of trained and experienced personnel that responds to incidents that are typically contained within one operational period (6 Hrs. to 12 Hrs) or usually within a few hours after resources initially arrive on scene. The Local IMT may be dispatched to help assist incidents requiring a significant number of local and mutual aid resources. Incidents that a Local IMT may be utilized at major structure fires, multi-vehicle crashes with multiple patients, armed robbery operations, School Emergencies, Parade events, Public Events, Hazmat Incident and Natural Disaster events. Local IMTs may initially manage larger, more complex incidents prior to arrival of an All-Hazard IMT or a Type 1 or 2 IMT.

What is the Schuylkill County Incident Management Team (IMT)?

The IMT (Type 5) is a group of emergency responders from various response disciplines and specialties that have received extensive training and experience (min of 6 years as Command Officer) with response and management of large-scale and specialized events. The IMT is an “all-hazards” team that can assist local responders with everything from major fires or natural disasters, to planning for specialized events.

The South-Central PA Task Force has established a Type 4 team, which Schuylkill County is involved with for use at longer-term events with multiple operational periods.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a Type 3 incident management team for use at longer-term events with multiple operational periods.

 Minimum requirements for application include experience in a Command position for 6 Years. Suggested completion of the following courses: Incident Safety Officer (ISO), Incident Command System (NIMS ICS for the Fire Service), and NIMS 700, 800, 100, 200.

  Application Process:

Schuylkill County IMT Team Application Jan 2023

 The application (Pages 3 and 4) needs to be filled out and submitted to:

The Schuylkill County Fire Chiefs Association, IMT Application Committee

Jim Misstishin, John Matz and Frank Zangari.  

 Questions about the application should be directed to any of the IMT Committee members.

• Once the application is received, the Committee will review your application, Approve/Decline, sign off and forwarded to Jim Misstishin. Upon application completion the candidate’s application will be signed off and the candidate notified.