Incident Command System

Template:TOC-right Even a single-car accident with injured victims, and, perhaps, a vehicle fire, is an incident that can be handled within routine capabilities of the local emergency medical services. When the number of events, be they injuries or poisonings, fires, infrastructure collapse, etc., is beyond the capability of the local organization, it invokes the Incident Command System (ICS), which is a doctrine of emergency management almost universal in North America, and widely used worldwide. ICS extensions are most directly concerned with managing the response of local units that either do not usually work together, or may lack certain relevant skills or equipment. ICS provides a systematic means to ask for assistance from neighboring emergency services all the way up to national-level response (i.e., [[National Incident Management System[[ (NIMS) in they U.S., and to coherently bring these additional resources into a coherent response under centralized and hierarchical command.

Incident Command System

Some of the reasons to use ICS is that it fits into a larger framework of resources outside the immediate area. It is designed

• Handle incidents of any kind or size, although the command structure evolve the incident becomes more complex
• Blend personnel, from a variety of agencies, nto a common management structure.
• Provides logistical and administrative support to operational staff.
• Is cost effective by avoiding duplication of efforts.
• Predefined mechanisms exist for health and hazardous material (HAZMAT) incidents.

The key things standardized by ICS include:

• Terminology
• Command
• Planning and organizational structure
• Facilities and resources
• Communications and Information Management
• Professionalism

Avoiding confusion

A fundamental starting port is standard terminology for

• Organizational functions.
• Incident facilities.
• Resource descriptions.
• Position titles.

Communications uses plain English,without departmental codes and jargon that not may be universally understood. "What is your position" is far less ambigious than "Report your 10-20."

Command

A basic of ICS is that one and only one person in command of a function. Responsiblities will change, but persons above and below the commander always knows current responsiblity. At a given level of command, ICS assumes unity of command: only one person is need, certainly with advice, to make a decision. The ultimate commander has a legal basis of authority, and guidance on what can and cannot be delegated.

ICS will not spring into existence at the moment of a disaster. All relevant commanders and angencies will need to be rained on its principles and procedures. *Within that structure, it forms a standardized management tool for meeting the demands of small or large emergency or nonemergency situations.

• Represents "best practices," and has become the standard for emergency management across the country.
• May be used for planned events, natural disasters, and acts of terrorism; it scales up to the NIMS level

Transfer of command takes place veriously when a more qualified commander arrives, or simply that it is time for the commander to rest. An incident commander is not necessarily the senior officer. For example, the Incident Commander of the Arlington County (Virginia) Fire Department was an Assistant Chief; the Chief determined he could be more effective both running other services in the jurisdiction, and coordinating requensts for help outside it.

Planning and organization

The basic organizational structure of an ICS response is standard; larger incidents use subcommanders when necessary, always with someone clearly in charge. No commander has more direct reports than is reasonable to manage under stressful condition.

There is no absolutely standard organization for an ICS team, although it tends to build from the bottom up. Some strong rules are that no supervisor can reasonably control more than five to sevel subordinates, perhaps with a few additioal personal staff. Factors that go into deciding the number of subordinates, or even whether there should be subincident commanders, include: Span of control considerations are influenced by the:

• Type of incident.
• Nature of the task.
• Hazards and safety factors.
• Distances between personnel and resources.

Command/personal staff

The Incident Commander most often will have personal assistants dealing with public affairs, liasion with other agencies (and with higher command if it exists), and a ssfety officer concerned with safety of the incident response personnel. In a highly technical incident, the Commandar might have an adviser (e.g., on radiation).

While the model for exerting command is called "general staff", it differs somewhat from the military use of such an organization. In the military, the staff advises the commander, and indeed will handle much of the routine communications. A military commander, however, is apt to have key deputy commanders or task force leaders, to whom he may give direct orders.

Under ICS, the General Staff is a more powerful body. Its basic organization has four or sometimes five sections:

• Operations
• Planning
  • Intelligence
• Logistics
• Finance & Administration

The intelligence section is organized only when needed, which means when sensitive information is being handled (e.g., law enforcement or security in a terrorist attack, or details of a weapon at the heart of a hazardous materials (HAZMAT) incident)

Operations runs the action incident response, with logistics and F&A supporting their needs, while Planning tries to stay ahead of the situation. Planning may reqyest resources in advance, but it is an absolute rule of ICS that any requested resources report to the chain of command to get their directio.

For large incidents, the Incident Commander, working through the Operations Section, often will have task force leaders. In dealing with a large fire, for example, there might be 3-4 hose/engine teams, but another team has responsibility for their water supply. The safety officer monitors their comsumption of air tanks and, working with logistics, makes sure the supply is adequate. There might be an Air Operations unit, perhaps just for observation, or with a larger structure if it takes more direct roles such as rescue or water dumps.

Facilities and Resources

There will be standardized ways of requesting resources, standarizing ways to receive them at staging areas, and a disciplined way to get them where they are needed.

Information and communications

Systems are verified, prior to an urgent need, that they can work together. Incident locations and facilities

Incident Command/Joint Response

For very large incidents, the Incident Commander runs the on-scene Incident Command Post, but there is, usually not on the incident site, a Joint Command Post, which responsbilities for keeping other agencies informed but not intefering with actions on the site, searching for resources, and perhaps managing resources that are expected to be needed, but cannot yet start their operations.

The response to the Pentagon disaster during the [9-11 attacks]] is often considered an excellent example of how ICS (or, properaly, ICS/JC) can work. On-scene command responsibility was with the Arligton County (Virginia) Fire Department. Wisely, the Chief of Department assigned an Assistant Chief to command the onsite response. He, in turn, made sure the other department responsibilities were carried out; people still needed ambulances and fire protection for reasons unrelated to the attack. As is common in such disasters, virtually all local units were dispatached because they were the most accustomed to working together, while units from neighboring juristictions, under Mutual Aid Agreements, would backfill the regular firehouses. When needed, neighboring units also responded to the Pentagon, but only when requested by the Incident Commander.

Several miles away, at the military base at Fort Myer, Virginia, the Joint Command Center was organized, which had senior-level representation from many agencies. It was commanded by a senior officer of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who fully understood that the Pentagon was a crime scene, but criminal investigation had to wait for fire and rescue operations to finish. Coincidentally, the JCC commander happened to be a close personal friend of the Incident Commander; it was observed by many that in-place personal relationships among those likely to have command roles can immensely help the job

ICS/National Response

At certain levels of extremely widespread emergencies, there may need to be multiple Incident Commanders and Joint Commanders, with clear responsibility for their specific areas. When truly major response is needed, additional response control centers will be established at regional or national level.