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Understanding the

Incident Command System &

Communications Exercise

Incident Complexity and Resource

Needs

Incident Complexity Resource Needs ICS Structure

Complexity

Modular Organization (2 of 2)

– Incident objectives

determine the

organizational size.

– Only functions/positions

that are necessary will be

filled.

– Each element must have

a person in charge.

Example: Expanding Incident (1 of 3)

Scenario: On a chilly autumn day, a

parent calls 911 to report a

missing 7-year-old child in a

wooded area adjacent to a

coastal area.

Incident Commander

Public Information Officer Safety Officer Liaison Officer

Search Group

EMS

Group

Investigation Group

Initially, the Incident

Commander manages the

General Staff resources.

Example: Expanding Incident (3 of 3)

• Scenario: With

hundreds of responders

and volunteers arriving,

there is a need for on-

scene support of the

planning and logistics

functions.

The Incident

Commander adds a

Planning Section Chief

and Logistics Section

Chief.

Incident Commander

Public Information Officer Safety Officer Liaison Officer

Planning Section

Operations Section

Logistics Section

Remember... Not all Sections

need to be activated!

Incident Command System

Incident

Commander

Operations

Section

Planning

Section

Logistics

Section

Finance/Admin

Section

Command: Overall

responsibility for the

incident. Sets objectives.

Operations: Develops the

tactical organization and

directs all resources to

carry out the Incident

Action Plan.

Planning: Develops

the Incident Action

Plan to accomplish

the objectives.

Finance/Admin:

Monitors costs related

to the incident.

Provides overall fiscal

guidance.

Logistics: Provides

resources and all

other services

needed to support

the incident.

Incident Management Team

Safety

Officer

Liaison

Officer

Public Information

Officer

Incident

Commander

Operations

Section

Planning

Section

Logistics

Section

Finance/Admin

Section

Incident Management Team

Incident Management

Team = Command and

General Staff Members

Management by Objectives

– ICS is managed by objectives.

– Objectives are communicated throughout

the entire ICS organization.

Operations

Law

Enforcement

Fire

Unified Command Structure

EMS

Unified Command

As a team effort, Unified Command allows all

agencies with jurisdictional authority or functional

responsibility for an incident to jointly provide

management direction to the incident.

In Unified Command, no agency’s

legal authorities will be

compromised or neglected.

Key Terms

Incident Commander: Performs primary tactical-level, on-scene

incident command functions. The Incident Commander is located

at an Incident Command Post at the incident scene.

Emergency Operations Center:

The physical location at which

the coordination of information

and resources to support

incident management takes place.

Area Command: Oversees the

management of multiple

incidents. Area Command may

be unified, and works directly

with Incident Commanders.

Emergency

Ops Center

(EOC)

Area

Command

Incident

Commander

Incident

Commander

Incident

Commander

A System... Not a Facility

On-Scene

Command Dispatch Coordination

Resource Centers

Emergency

Operations

Centers

Coordination

Entities/

Groups

Multiagency Coordination System

Establish Command!!!