Incident Command System

ICFR uses the Incident Command System to manage all incidents, small to large. When responding to any emergency inside the Inter-Canyon Fire Protection District or as mutual aid to another District we all work for one Incident Commander.

The Incident Command System (ICS) is a management system used by emergency responders to command, control and coordinate emergency operations. ICS integrates all the critical components of an emergency operation -- facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications -- within a common organizational structure.

Important features of ICS include:

• Wide applicability across all emergency management disciplines;
• Used to organize both near-term and long-term field operations;
• Used for a broad spectrum of emergencies, from small to complex;
• Used by all levels of government.

ICS was developed more than 30 years ago by the fire service. In the 1970s, as California firefighters battled a series of massive wildfires, they found that one of their most significant challenges was not always the fire. With no standardized management structure or system to categorize resources, internal confusion, conflicting priorities, mismatched resources, and miscommunication hampered emergency response efforts. In 1972, an inter-agency task force called FIRESCOPE was created to standardize wildfire fighting operations, and ICS was born.
Today, ICS is one of the principle components of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) established under Presidential Homeland Security Presidential Directive No. 5. This directive requires all emergency responders to utilize a common management structure in response to all domestic incidents.
ICS Functional Areas
ICS is organized into functional areas called sections. Each section describes an activity (or group of related activities) that are considered essential parts of the disaster operation. For minor incidents, one person may be capable of performing several functions; on large or complex incidents, each ICS section may represent several dozen disaster workers, each charged with specific responsibilities.
Incident Command - Has overall responsibility for managing the disaster operation;
Public Information - Communicates with media and others seeking information about the incident operation;
Liaison - Serves as point-of-contact with other disaster relief agencies, governmental organizations, and utilities;
Safety - Assesses safety and security risks and recommends action to protect all disaster personnel;
Operations - Manages all direct service activities, such as firefighting;
Logistics - Secures and manages resources (including supplies and equipment) necessary to support the operation;
Finance & Administration - Manages reports, statistics, personnel, volunteers and accounting for the disaster operation;
Planning - Develops an incident action plan to accomplish operational objectives; collects and evaluates information.