INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM An Organizational Tool
FEATURES
MANAGEMENT
Whether it’s a dumpster fire or an explosion at a major chemical manufacturing facility, the successful mitigation of any situation depends on the quality of a department’s organized training.
Setting up a high level, uniform training program for a county having 35 separate fire agencies ranging from fully paid to all volunteer and covering city, state, federal, and special districts was the task facing the Monterey County, CA, Training Officer’s Association.
To provide this level of training for more than 1,000 firefighters in municipalities throughout the county, it was apparent that the association would have to organize its staffing and training concepts. To do this, the association relied on past experiences and a solution developed about 10 years ago to cope with another problem, wildland fires.
After a series of fires throughout California in the early 1970s, a statewide system was instituted by FireScope (Firefighters of Southern California Organized for Potential Emergencies) to coordinate communications and efforts among the various emergency response agencies and to control the numerous amounts of manpower and equipment needed at largescale incidents. It was, appropriately, called the incident command system.
Taking the same organizational principles and management concepts used for emergency situations, the Training Officer’s Association adapted the incident command system so that it could plan, coordinate, and handle up to 500 personnel at a time in its training system.
Let’s examine a flow chart of the incident command system (below) and see how the functional designators interface with each other to form a systematic planning chart (for nearly any undertaking).
COMMAND STAFF
Just as in a fire or emergency situation, there are two basic management designations for training purposes as well, the command staff and the general staff.
Incident commander
The incident commander (the head of the training program) is responsible for the overall project, whether it be a seminar, a drill, or a special assignment. His duties encompass:
- Preparing the overall project/ training program;
- Assessing the training situation (such as areas of training needing the most attention);
- Briefing all involved person-
- nel on the training program and its objective;
- Initiating planning meetings to formulate plans for the training program and its various activities;
- Approving and authorizing the training plan;
- Coordinating staff activities;
- Managing the overall training operation;
- Approving requests for resources needed and arranging for their release to the activity site.
- Authorizing the release of information to the media;
- Planning for and authorizing debriefing and critique of the various training activities.
Information officer
The information officer is responsible for assembling and recording all information about the training program and releasing it to the news media and/or other appropriate agencies.
- Obtain the training program briefing from the incident commander;
- Contact jurisdictional agencies of the specifics of the various training activities and their locations;
- Prepare and clear through the incident commander a printed informational summary about all activities prior to their taking place;
- Release this informational summary to the media and to jurisdictional agencies prior to the activities;
- Update information if an activity extends beyond its originally estimated time period;
- Escort media personnel in and around the training site;
- Respond to special requests
Photos courtesy of the Monterey Fire Dept. for information, especially those involving complaints.
Safety officer
The safety officer is responsible for monitoring and assessing hazardous and unsafe situations during training activities. He must have the authority to correct unsafe conditions immediately.
- Obtain briefing from the incident commander;
- Review training activity plans to identify potentially unsafe conditions;
- Establish backup teams and safety lines prior to activities;
- Investigate and document all accidents that occur within the training area.
GENERAL STAFF OPERATIONS OFFICER
As the name implies, the operations officer is responsible for the management of all operations directly applicable to the training program. He initiates the training activities and directs their execution.
- Develop the operations section of the training program;
- Brief operations personnel as per the incident commander’s training plan outline;
- Supervise operations;
- Determine equipment needs and request any additional resources;
- Assemble and disassemble personnel and equipment engaged in training activities;
- Report progress of all training activities to the incident commander.
Planning officer
The planning officer is the person from whom the information officer gets most of his data. The planning officer is responsible for the collection, evaluation, and dissemination of information regarding all planned training activities.
- Establish schedules and timetables for all activities;
- Design the layout of the training site(s) and provide a map to the location(s);
- Provide traffic patterns for the various activities;
- Establish weather data prior to the dates of scheduled activities;
- Plan for alternative activity sites and equipment, i.e., classrooms and audiovisual aids;
- Supervise activities to ascertain whether the training activities plan is workable and efficient;
- Identify needs for special resources, i.e., portable toilets, coffee and food;
- Provide the incident commander with periodic updates on planned activities.
Logistics officer
The logistics officer is responsible for providing facilities, service, and materials to support the training program activities.
- Develop plan for logistics;
- Identify service and support requirements for planned activities and operations;
- Procure the needed resources as outlined by planning (apparatus, instructors, equipment, locations, food, sanitation, classrooms, audiovisual aids, etc.);
- Keep records on acquired resources;
- Estimate additional resources needed and where they can be procured;
- Review the operations section’s plan for disassembling personnel and equipment.
Finance officer
The finance officer is responsible for all financial and cost analysis aspects of the training program.
- Develop a financial plan for the collection and distribution of all monies;
- Brief command staff on financial status of the overall training program;
- Ensure that all personnel have registered for the various activities;
- Collect enrollment fees and disburse receipts;
- Liaison with community colleges in order to prepare registration for students taking the training program for college credits;
- Compile individual department attendance lists for billing purposes;
- Coordinate all payments that are due instructors or due a facility for rental charges;
- Provide a summary of the financial status of the training program to the Training Officer’s Association.
Staging officer
The staging officer is responsible for managing all activities within the staging area.
- Establish a staging area layout plan for apparatus and personnel;
- Determine food, sanitation, and security needs;
- Establish check-in areas for identification and traffic control of personnel and apparatus;
- Respond to requests for resources from either the operations officer or the incident commander;
- Report status of resources by maintaining a status board;
- Demobilize staging in accordance with the disassembly plan;
- Maintain a log.
SUMMARY
These eight positions were found to be the essential functions for conducting a successful training program. As in the incident command system, if a training activity calls for an additional position or functional designator, it can be easily worked into the system. For example, if the planning section chief can no longer handle the need to identify special resources for particular activities, he may plug that designator into the system and appoint a resource officer. This will relieve the planning officer of additional duties that cannot be performed efficiently due to span of control constraints.
Using the incident command system to organize and plan training programs gives instructors a medium to handle vast numbers of firefighters and provide a high level of training. An additional benefit to using the incident command system as a planning tool is the opportunity to practice and become familiar with it outside of emergency conditions. Some day, these same officers may be called together to combat a large fire or disaster situation. Having incorporated the incident command system into their training activities will improve their ability to communicate and control fireground operations during major incidents.
