WHAT IS AN IMT?

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) defines Incident Management Teams as follows:
“IMTs are rostered groups of ICS-qualified personnel, consisting of an Incident Commander, other incident leadership, and personnel qualified for other key ICS positions. IMTs exist at local, regional, state, tribal, and national levels and have formal notification, deployment, and operational procedures in place. These teams are typed based on team members’ qualifications and may be assigned to manage incidents or to accomplish supporting incident-related tasks or functions.”

Type-3 IMTs are now recognized as a critical component of a local or state jurisdiction’s ability to provide on-scene incident management or support during incidents or events that exceed a jurisdiction or agency’s capability or capacity. Using the ICS as the organizational framework and planning system, the Type-3 IMTs are deployed as a specially trained team of personnel to manage major and/or more complex incidents within a local or state jurisdiction.

Texas has:
• 17 Type-3 Local Incident Management Teams.
• 6 Type-3 Regional/State IMTs, based on the TDEM Regions.
• 1 Type-3 State/National IMT.

Three-tier concept:
LOCAL: Designated to deploy for use within the local or host jurisdictional area.
REGIONAL: Designated to deploy within a defined region or within the state.
NATIONAL: Designated as available to deploy within the region and state, as well as being available for deployment nationally.

Using the three tiers to define the level of response capability maximizes standardization while enabling the authorizing entity to determine its own level of participation and degree of autonomy within its geographic response area.