Members of the Eastern Incident Management Team. NPS photo.

NPS staff from seven different units in Northeast and Southeast Regions have volunteered their skills and time to be part of the Eastern All Risk Incident Management Team that supports all-risk incidents as needed for the NPS. 

The Eastern IMT is supported by Northeast, National Capital, and Southeast NPS regions. Ten team members were sponsored by the three regions to participate in a week-long training program held in mid-October at the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources Ralph Winkworth Forestry Center in Kinston. The team was the only NPS team among five interagency teams in this training program for incident command and general staff positions (S-420) conducted annually by the Southern Area Coordination Group and its member agencies – the NPS, USFS, BIA, FWS and state foresters.

This rigorous program brings teams through a week-long training program that includes two real-time simulation exercises that help prepare them to function as an effective incident management team when called on.  NPS regional emergency manager and Southern Area Type 1 Red Team incident commander Mark Ruggiero were on hand as part of the training program. 

“The NPS team was the highest scoring in the simulation exercise, an extremely impressive performance on the part of the NPS team, said Ruggiero. 

Zeph Cunningham , NPS Eastern Team incident commander, was also present as the team’s coach and instructor for the course , and was very pleased with the addition to the NPS team’s capability to manage future incidents.

Participants in the training program were Wayne Elliott, Mammoth Cave; Steven Kloster, Kathleen Stuart, and Heather Wood, Great Smoky Mountains; John Wood, SERO; Joseph DeMonte, Northeast Region; Linda Friar, Everglades;  Richard Barrett, National Parks of New York Harbor; and Mark Wiedewitsch from the Kentucky Division of Forestry, who joined the group for this exercise.

Contact Information
Name: Linda Friar, IO, Eastern IMT