U.S. Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20472 Grant Programs Directorate and National Preparedness Directorate Information Bulletin No. 306 January 14, 2009 TO: All State Administrative Agency Heads All State Administrative Agency Points of Contact All Core City/Core County Points of Contact All State Homeland Security Directors All State Emergency Management Agency Directors FROM: Dennis Schrader Deputy Administrator National Preparedness Directorate Federal Emergency Management Agency W. Ross Ashley, III Assistant Administrator Grant Programs Directorate Federal Emergency Management Agency SUBJECT: National Preparedness Directorate Training Courses available through the United States Fire Administration, National Fire Academy The National Preparedness Directorate (NPD) within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was established to oversee the coordination and development of the capabilities and tools necessary to prepare for all hazards, including terrorism. NPD provides strategy, policy, planning guidance, and training and exercises, to build prevention, protection, and recovery capabilities to protect our Nation. NPD continually seeks to establish internal and external partnerships to fulfill its mission. One of the critical elements in all-hazards preparedness is our Nation’s first responder community. NPD has a number of programs, training, grants, and activities to support our first responders and continually searches for ways to institutionalize these efforts at the state and local levels. United States Fire Administration (USFA) has a long established and outstanding relationship with fire service training systems through its National Fire Academy (NFA). USFA/NFA also continually seeks to establish and sustain partnerships to fulfill its mission. NPD and USFA discussed using NFA’s network of State Fire Training (SFT) systems to assist in the institutionalization of training at the state and local level. Relevant NPD courses have been identified and training materials have been given to NFA for distribution to the SFT systems. These SFT systems are accredited, teach national standards, and curriculum is delivered by certified instructors. The purpose of this memo is to inform the State Administrative Agencies (SAA) of the availability of this curriculum through the NFA SFT systems. A signed copy of this Information Bulletin will be included in the distribution of NPD courses to SFTs. SFTs are reminded that they are responsible for notifying the appropriate SAA, for approval to conduct any of these courses prior to course delivery if reimbursement through the Homeland Security Grant Program will be requested. A list of NPD courses distributed to SFTs is attached. SFTs will report the number and title of NPD courses delivered and their student completions to USFA/NFA. Those names will be kept in the student database to serve as an accountability mechanism to ensure that grant training dollars are well spent. This information will be made available to the SAA, as requested. We encourage each SAA to take advantage of this opportunity to work more closely with their State fire training partners just as NPD and USFA have at the Federal level. Additional questions may be directed to your FEMA Program Analyst or the Centralized Scheduling and Information Desk at askcsid@dhs.gov or 1-800-368-6498. 2