NMAS FAQs

National Mutual Aid System powered by IAFC, Esri, WebEOC
  • Our department, city or county is not a WebEOC user, but we're active in the IAFC. How can we participate in NMAS? Answer
  • Our department, city or county doesn't use some or all the Esri tools mentioned here, but we're active in the IAFC. How can we participate in NMAS? Answer
  • When will my state join NMAS? Answer
  • Does our department and/or state need a mutual aid plan to make NMAS work? How do we learn more about developing one? Answer
  • Our department is in the Mutual Aid Net system, how does that relate to NMAS? Answer

Question: Our department, city or county is not a WebEOC user, but we're active in the IAFC. How can we participate in NMAS?

Answer: IAFC members whose departments are NMAS users will have a mechanism to use certain WebEOC elements as part of the NMAS system and in accordance with their state’s mutual aid plan administration. NMAS will not reside inside a WebEOC application, but will be able to pass information back and forth to WebEOC platforms.

Question: Our department, city or county doesn't use some or all the Esri tools mentioned here, but we're active in the IAFC. How can we participate in NMAS?

Answer: IAFC members whose departments are NMAS users will have a mechanism* to seamlessly access key Esri tools as part of the NMAS system. (*NMAS departments assign user privileges for their personnel.)

Question: When will my state join NMAS?

Answer: Soon! The NMAS beta test will be conducted in California, Florida, Tennessee and Utah. Go-lives for these states are scheduled to follow in the summer of 2018. The NMAS team will then begin working with the current Mutual Aid Net states. The team will create an implementation plan and conduct a national outreach and marketing strategy to touch every state and territory within one year of the initial roll-out.

Question: Does our department and/or state need a mutual aid plan to make NMAS work? How do we learn more about developing one?

Answer: NMAS will support state mutual aid plans. As governance is part of what makes mutual aid successful, we recommend that all states have an intrastate mutual aid plan. If your state doesn't have an intrastate plan, please contact the NMAS staff; we can help you on the path to developing one.

Question: Our department is in the Mutual Aid Net system; how does that relate to NMAS?

Answer: Feedback from Mutual Aid Net users, combined with advances in technology, led the IAFC to start upgrading the system, forming a partnership with ESRI and WebEOC in October 2017. Current Mutual Aid Net users will be contacted about joining NMAS in the spring of 2018.

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