EMC210 RIMS Forms 1 For release 11/15/99 During an emergency agencies and governments need to pass key information about facts and situations; such as date, time, location, identity (name of) emergency, name of the government or utility reporting the incident/event, as well as explicit details and need for assistance. Obviously each state, possibly areas within a state, may develop its own standard format, yet there are usually certain basics that always apply. In California a standardized statewide system was mandated by the legislature to minimize inter operability problems. This is the State Emergency Management System (SEMS) and its Response Information Management System (RIMS), which is a Lotus Notes program that is a computer integrated data availability system. Bulletins 205-206 covered this in greater detail and pointed up the significant changes this system brought to local and state government agency emergency communications. This series covers the RIMS format/forms on the computer. While specific to California, it can illustrate several factors for any EMCOMM unit. RIMS forms are in use between Cities, Counties Special Districts, and the State Emergency Operations Centers. Their use in the local area, such as between the Sheriff and the EOC, may vary widely. RIMS forms are in use on a Windows or Macintosh computer that has Lotus Notes and the CA State OES designed RIMS additions. On opening the SEMS REPORTS there are a series of BUTTONS on the left side of the screen for the following items. 1 - EVENT/INCIDENT REPORTS 2 - SITUATION REPORTS 3 - STATUS REPORTS 4 - IDE REPORTS (Incident Damage Estimates) 5 - GOVERNOR'S BRIEFINGS 7 - VOLUNTEER RESOURCES Report (NON-ACS) 8 - PLANS 9 - Operational Objectives Utility Incident (no number) LEVEES (no number) CA Levees Incident Status Report Z - AFTER ACTION REPORTS A breakout of each category appears after selecting a button and will be covered in bulletin 211. As soon as arrangements can be completed, samples of these forms will be provided on the Internet and the ACS BBS. Watch the ACS Newsletter, future bulletins and the Web page at http://www.oes.ca.gov for an announcement of availability. Continues in Bulletin 211 --- To subscribe to bulletins, use the Subscription Services web page at . If you don't have web access, just send an e-mail message to . Prior bulletins are on the ACS Web page: http://acs.oes.ca.gov and a Landline BBS at 916-262-0856. The UCSD FTP site is still undergoing updating.