There a number of teams that provide support and specialized services that are sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They are deployed by the appropriate FEMA Region upon a request from the Governor’s office for Federal assistance or to support individual Federal agencies.


# of Teams	Title	Location	ETA	Source
1	MERS	FEMA Region 4	12 – 24 HR	FEMA/RRCC
1	IMAT	FEMA Region 4	12 – 24 HR	FEMA/RRCC
1	USAR	Miami, FL.	12 – 18 HR	FEMA
1	NVERT	FEMA Region 4	12 – 20 HR	DHHS
1	DMAT	FEMA Region 4	10 – 12 HR.	DHHS
1	DMORT	FEMA Region 4	12 – 24 HR	DHHS

Table U.2. Federally Sponsored Response Teams

MERS (Mobile Emergency Response Support) are technical support units operated by FEMA that can provide communications and technical support to Federal response. They are capable of austere restoration and integration of capability with existing public technical systems.

IMAT (Incident Management Assistance Teams): The primary mission of a FEMA IMAT will be to rapidly deploy to an incident or incident-threatened venue, provide leadership in the identification and provision of Federal assistance, and coordinate and integrate inter-jurisdictional response in support of the affected State(s) or U.S.Territory(s). The IMATs will support efforts to meet the emergent needs of State and local jurisdictions; possess the capability to provide initial situational awareness for Federal decision-makers; and support the initial establishment of unified command.

USAR (Urban Search and Rescue): The National US&R Response System is a framework for structuring local emergency services personnel into integrated disaster response task forces. The 28 National US&R Task Forces, complete with the necessary tools, equipment, skills, and techniques, can be deployed by FEMA to assist State and local governments in rescuing victims of structural collapse incidents or to assist in other search and rescue missions. Each Task Force must have all its personnel and equipment at the embarkation point within six hours of activation. The Task Force can be dispatched and en route to its destination in a matter of hours.

NVRT (National Veterinary Response Teams): There are five National Veterinary Response Teams that are part of Health and Human Services and the National Disaster Medical System. The NVRT are highly trained teams composed of veterinarians, veterinary technicians, toxicologists, and other medical and lay support personnel. They can deploy within 12-24 hours to a disaster area and are self sufficient for 72 hours.

DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team): DMATs provide primary and acute care, triage of mass casualties, initial resuscitation and stabilization, advanced life support, and preparation of sick or injured for evacuation. The basic deployment configuration of a DMAT consists of 35 persons; it includes physicians, nurses, medical technicians, and ancillary support personnel. They can be mobile within 6 hours of notification and are capable of arriving at a disaster site within 48 hours. They can sustain operations for 72 hours without external support. DMATs are responsible for establishing an initial (electronic) medical record for each patient, including assigning patient unique identifiers in order to facilitate tracking throughout the NDMS.

DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team): DMORTs work under the guidance of local authorities by providing technical assistance and personnel to recover, identify, and process deceased victims. Teams are composed of funeral directors, medical examiners, coroners, pathologists, forensic anthropologists, medical records technicians and transcribers, fingerprint specialists, forensic odontologists, dental assistants, x-ray technicians, and other personnel. HHS also maintains several Disaster Portable Morgue Units (DPMU) that can be used by DMORTs to establish a stand-alone morgue operation.