Starting off the third day of ICS-300: Intermediate ICS with our partners from across the state.

We are fortunate to have the IEMA-OHS Region-4 Regional Coordinator Jason L. pop in and reinforce the partnerships between state and Federal partners here in Illinois.

Man, I knew Jason before he got hired at Cook County EMRS. While I did not work at the state during his time, I am glad that he has solid relationships with many partners. As you know, Region-4 has the biggest population density of any regions in Illinois.

During day-3, we talk a ton about resources, assets, personal, accountability, etc….so one of the outstanding resources we have is our communications teams. First person that comes to mind is my good friend John Nebl.

I knew John before I moved to Illinois decades ago.

As usual, John brings the heat when it comes to radios and IntraOperability.

John was also able to muster up the regional communications assets that we would be pinging on the first outsets of any cell/network crisis.

The fact, that these resources are located in DuPage County is an incredible help. Cell networks, radio caches, phone banks, immediate patching and connectivity….man this team does it all!

Admittedly, I knew of this team as I worked at DuPage County OHSEM back in the day and I am very well aware of the efforts and skills of all these COM-Ls and COM-Ts.

Outstanding to have them onsite with us and a great partnership effort to learn about resources/apparatus that would be used during any disaster/emergency.

Proud to bring our senior staff out too. It’s all about concreting the collaborative efforts BEFORE a disaster. And if we can utilize shared resources from the State’s STR assets, all the better.

Thanks again to our partners from IEMA-OHS and DuPage County OHSEM.

Reporting live from the shadows of the UCP and RapComm-4…

@rusnivek