The All-Hazards Incident Management Teams Association (AHIMTA) was incorporated on December 1, 2010, just before the 2010 AHIMT Conference by members of the Jefferson County Colorado IMT. But there’s a lot more to the story...

In 2008, a grass-roots effort to get the budding All-Hazard Type 3 IMT membership together was launched in DeKalb, Illinois. The efforts of many, including and underwritten by Geoff Wilford of Incident Management Training Consortium (IMTC), put on the first conference with approximately 140 IMT members gathering at Northern Illinois University. Dr. Amy K, Donahue assisted with the first study to help focus the national interests of the AHIMT community in a format that provided real data to the federal government as they wrestled with how to support the AHIMT program. The DeKalb report is available in the resources section of the website.

At the 2008 conference, the idea of creating an association was discussed, but didn't get the needed traction at that time. The 2009 AHIMT Conference in Houston, TX was hosted by Paul Hannemann and the Texas A&M Forest Service showed the value people placed on getting together for networking and education by having over 440 attendees.

Between the 2009 and 2010 conferences, the association finally gained enough momentum to move from a great idea to reality. Thanks to the efforts of Bill Easterling along with Tim McSherry, Mike Rubenstein, the incorporation documents were filed. The initial Board of Directors was appointed at the conference, one from each FEMA region and one at-large representative. The Board was introduced to the attendees and the association was off and running!

During our inaugural years, the Board was busy revising bylaws, creating the website, banking relationships, processing memberships, reaching out to stakeholders and marketing the association. In late 2011 the association gained ownership of the conference and then it was off to the races.

With the roll out of the website and the associated tools it provides, the Association is building communication strategies, providing resources, building internal capacity by engaging the skill and talents of the membership to staff committees and continuing the strategic plan review process.

In late 2012, AHIMTA established the Interstate Qualifications System (IQS) Committee, which began work on developing a qualifications system and set of standards for interstate deployment of AHIMTs. The first edition of the Interstate Incident Management Qualifications System (IIMQS) Guide was published in March 2014 with the latest revision published in October 2018. Parallel to the IIMQS Guide, Position Descriptions and Position Task Books for 24 incident management positions were also published.    

Some key goals we have identified for the Association include:

•        Continue to foster solid working relationships with FEMA, NWCG, IACP, IAFC, NEMA, IAEM and many other interagency, State, and Local entities to develop and improve tools and opportunities for AHIMTs and raise the effectiveness and efficiency of disaster responses. 
  
•        Provide leadership and education to IMTs and their members. To promote, support, and enhance the profession of incident management by establishing standards 
  
•        Have the Association’s IIMQS recognized and adopted by all states, territories, tribal and federal agencies in their credentialing process.
  

These are lofty goals and as we continue our journey, the Association is not Pollyannaish and fully understands these goals will take many years to accomplish and only through the direct grassroots efforts of our members. 

Much has been accomplished and much more is still to do. These are exciting times for the AHIMTA and with your support, we will make a difference.