With a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Frederick Community College will develop an online course for first responders across the nation.
The Complex Attacks Situational Awareness Response course will help 1,000 emergency management professionals prepare and plan for a variety of potential natural and man-made threats.
FCC is expected to begin offering the course soon after an April 2013 developmental period, according to Kathy Forrest, FCC's Emergency Management academic program manager.
The course will be offered entirely online, and FCC is expecting first responders, police chiefs, emergency managers and senior level law enforcement staff to sign up, Forrest said.
Over the three-year life of the grant, the course will be open to 500 senior level staff in emergency management and to 500 first responders, such as police officers or firefighters.
The course is designed to help jurisdictions and agencies better work together as they prepare for and respond to any number of potential threats, from physical to cyberattacks to environmental or utility threats.
A complex attack is defined as one that affects multiple jurisdictions at many levels and requires that resources be prioritized based on the risk and situation.
The content is unique to FCC's Mid-Atlantic Center for Emergency Management, Forrest said, but she could not say whether other colleges offer a similar course.
Topics in the course will include integrated training to help different teams respond, awareness training for first responders to gather and interpret terrorist tactics during a crisis, communicating with the public in the midst of a crisis, and communication needs between response teams and incident commanders.
The course will take one semester.
Although the grant will end in three years, Forrest said she hopes it will lead into additional opportunities to expand FCC's content areas in emergency management.
Copyright 2012 - The Frederick News-Post, Md.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
