Public safety officials from around the Island gathered last weekend at West Tisbury Fire Station No. 2 for three-day upper-level training in the national Incident Command System.

Federal public safety grants require towns to participate in the National Incident Management System and receive appropriate training, according to a press release from West Tisbury emergency management director John Christensen.

Mr. Christensen said Island police officers, boards of health members, firefighters, Coast Guard members, fire, emergency management and EMS personnel, and other first responders gave up the chance to watch the Patriots game last weekend to attend the training, with 24 people from five Island towns in attendance.

The Incident Command System (ICS) was developed on the West Coast for managing large-scale forest fires that require different jurisdictions, towns and departments to work together. It has become the main training for managing incidents, and can be scaled to work for planned incidents like a parade or unplanned incidents like a fire. ICS has been used at Island events including flu clinics, fireworks shows, and parades.