Emergencies and disasters don't happen every day. It is through the efforts of our dedicated volunteers that Kane County and its residents are better prepared.

Volunteers fill a variety of professional positions within the OEM organization. To qualify you must:

• Be a minimum of 18 years of age.
• Must live within 5 miles of Kane County.
• Be willing to learn.
• Be willing to work at public event details in support of local community activities.
• Be available to respond to emergency calls, when needed.

Each volunteer member brings unique skills, capabilities, and talents when they join the OEM. For a volunteer to be an integral part of the organization, he or she must be willing to share those talents and actively participate in the details, training, and calls for assistance. At a minimum each volunteer should be prepared to commit to the following:

• Attend monthly membership meeting, training sessions and Wednesday work activities.
• Participate in at least 33% of the details and calls.
• Contribute and share your skills to help the organization meet it's goals and objectives.

If you are interested in joining the Kane County Office of Emergency Management please use our PDF Application for membership.

Once your application is accepted we'll start your orientation and your 90 day probation. Once the probation period, training and probationary activities are successfully completed, you will become a full member of our agency

During the orientation/probation period our members are required to complete the following Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency's Emergency Management Institute's Independent Study Program Courses:

• IS-22 Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness
• IS-100 Introduction to Incident Command System, I-100
• IS-200 ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
• IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction
• IS-800.A National Response Plan (NRP), An Introduction

We also recommend taking the Professional Development Series (PDS):

• IS-230 Principles of Emergency Management
• IS-235 Emergency Planning
• IS-242 Effective Communication
• IS-241 Decision Making and Problem Solving
• IS-240 Leadership and Influence
• IS-244 Developing and Managing Volunteers
• IS-139 Exercise Design

We also recommend, but do NOT require the following courses:

• IS-1 Emergency Manager - An Orientation to the Position
• IS-5.A An Introduction to Hazardous Materials
• IS-15.A Special Events Contingency Planning for Public Safety Agencies
• IS-55 Household Hazardous Materials - A Guide for Citizens
• IS-120 An Orientation to Community Disaster Exercises
• IS-197.SP Special Needs Planning Considerations for Service and Support Providers
• IS-271 Anticipating Hazardous Weather & Community Risk
• IS-275 The EOC's Role in Community Preparedness, Response and Recovery Activities
• IS-288 The Role of Voluntary Agencies in Emergency Management
• IS-292 Disaster Basics
• IS-317 Introduction to Community Emergency Response Teams
• IS-340 Hazardous Materials Prevention
• IS-393.A Introduction to Hazard Mitigation
• IS-394.A Protecting Your Home or Small Business From Disaster
• IS-701 Multiagency Coordination Systems
• IS-702 National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) Public Information Systems
• IS-703 NIMS Resource Management
• IS-706 NIMS Intrastate Mutual Aid - An Introduction
• IS-860 Introduction to the National Infrastructure Protection Plan

When taking the courses we recommend using the following course options in the order listed:

• NETC Virtual Campus
• Hosted Site
• EMI learning site
• Download Course Materials

These courses can be found at: http://www.training.fema.gov/IS/