Accidents happen.

And when they do, it takes a vast amount of people and organizations to regulate the damage.

An estimated 130 participants from upward of 40 organizations took part in the nation’s first All-Hazard Incident Managing Team Conference Wednesday, according to Acting DeKalb Fire Chief Bruce Harrison.

Joe Gasparich, Homeland Security program director for the Illinois Fire Service Institute, said the conference convened for three reasons.

“The purpose of the conference is, number one, so that the [people] get to know each other,” Gasparich said. “Number two, they were asked to compile research data on what was most important to them as teams in terms of training and funding and development. And then the third thing is, they are coming here together to see what the other teams are done and where they’re at.”

Gasparich mentioned NIU was selected due to what it had to offer in terms of lodging and accommodations in addition to its proximity to Chicago and surrounding areas.

Harrison said the historic conference presented its participants with a “solid opportunity” to head up accident awareness in their own neighborhoods.

“This is a very good research tool to help your community better prepare,” Harrison said. “What you’re really doing is you’re building partnerships, you’re building cooperations and relationships that help you out of a crisis. I personally believe the process we developed here helps us be a better prepared community.”

Dr. Cortez Lawrence, superintendent of the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland, said the conference paved the way for networking opportunities among organizations nationwide. It also goes a long way in helping the individual departments react in domestic incidents, he said.

“Typically, our [emergency response] activities go for a few hours,” Lawrence said. “But you get the huge incidents: Katrina, Gustav, the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, where it’s days, even weeks of operating periods. We were never prepared for that, and outside of the fire service and military, nobody in the United States had done those things.”

In 2005, Lawrence assisted with the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Appreciating being part of something bigger, he also felt that many of the friendships he made wouldn’t extend beyond his time there. At the conference, he was surprised to meet with many of his team members and friends once more.

“It’s a fairly small world,” Lawrence said, “And a lot of us know each other, either by interaction or certainly, by reputation.”

City reporter Shaun Zinck contributed to this story.