The Comm Room
  • Home
    • About Me
    • Personal Website
  • Amateur Radio
    • SkyWarn >
      • What is SkyWarn?
      • Getting Started
      • What Do I Report?
      • Severe WX Reporting
      • Spotter Safety
      • Overpass Safety?
      • SkyWarn in Arizona
    • Public Service & Events >
      • 10 Ways to Optimize Your Effectiveness
      • Are You Making a Difference?
    • ARES Information >
      • ARES Net
      • Prowords
    • Emergency Communications >
      • Emergency & Disaster Radio Operating Procedures
      • ECom Do's & Don'ts
      • Emergency Management Cycle
    • Training
    • EMCOMM Bulletins >
      • RACES >
        • 1995-96
        • 1996
    • Virtual QSL Wall
  • Incident Command
    • DHS Position Paper on NIMS & the ICS
  • Emergency Preparedness
    • Emergency First Aid >
      • First Aid for Pets
    • Planning For Pets
  • Social Media
    • Social Media vs Ham Radio
  • Links & Awards
    • SkyWarn Links
    • Public Service Links
    • ECom Links
    • ICS/NIMS Links
    • Emergency Prep. Links
    • Training Links
  • Radio Logs
    • Contest Log
  • Photos

2002-03 EmComm Bulletins

TO: Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
TO: Emergency Management Agencies via Internet and Radio
FROM: Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services

Back

EMC340 - ICS in Action 1/4

5/6/2002

0 Comments

 
The Incident Command System (ICS) is an organization structure for the management of response situations. As a SYSTEM it was originally developed through a cooperative (local, state, and federal) effort known as FIRESCOPE to efficiently 
Picture
manage any incident or emergency to which fire protection agencies would respond. The success led to its adoption in OTHER modalities.

The principles and habits of ICS are not really new, rather ICS is the systemization and enhancement of what fire and law agencies had been doing for years in various jurisdictions.

As an organization structure ICS is designed to be usable in ALL KINDS OF EMERGENCIES, whether small day-to-day situations or very large and complex ones. It is also readily adaptable to new technology, and yet is simple enough to ensure low operational maintenance costs. It is applicable and generally acceptable throughout the country.

The major benefit of the Incident Command System (ICS) is that it can expand in a logical manner from an initial isolated incident into a major widespread disaster with the least disruption of systems and resources. Here is the basic structure of the ICS.

For example, a small grass fire starts outside of a city. A local fire department responds. The unit reaches the fire. The ranking officer on this first unit is the initial Incident Commander and handles all of the other IC positions as needed. Since the fire is small the obvious task is to extinguish it, which they set about to do as an incident strike team.

The ranking officer set up the basic element of ICS when he (as a strike team leader of the crew that responded to the fire) took command and assigned the fire fighters to their work. At that point it was a local situation and only the single command element was implemented.

However, just as the last embers are being extinguished a heavy wind blow ups and sparks cause the fire to jump a road into a dry hay field. What was originally a small local fire situation suddenly becomes an escalating emergency as the wind-fed fire roars through the fields and hungrily engulfs vast areas. A disastrous conflagration suddenly threatens many farms, a large city and two towns. Many engines and crews from multiple jurisdictions will be needed to fight the fire.

When the fire exploded, everything changed. His crew was not able to handle much of the fast moving fire. So, he called for help via radio. Next week we see how ICS expands to help the situation.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    A Calm Quiet Morning
    Community Based Solution
    County Unit Activity
    Emcomm Officers Handbook
    EMSA Exercise - Training
    Eoc Comm Task Check List
    Eoc Training
    Fema Necn In Action
    Ics In Action
    Ics Summary
    Local Eoc
    More On Ics
    Oes Acs Field Units
    Opportunity For Amateurs
    Preparedness Followup
    Remember EDIS?
    Responders Fire Safety
    Road To Preparedness
    Self Activation?
    Shares In Review
    Sonoma County Acs
    State Oes Evolution
    Training Ideas 02
    Why Volunteers Quit

    Archives

    March 2003
    February 2003
    January 2003
    December 2002
    November 2002
    October 2002
    September 2002
    August 2002
    July 2002
    June 2002
    May 2002
    April 2002
    March 2002
    February 2002
    January 2002

    ACS Bulletins

    The Bulletins are addressed to the Emergency Management Agency (with sub-addresses to others) with the intent that the Radio Officer, ACS Coordinator or other unit participant will deliver them to the agency coordinator, and discuss their topics.

    RSS Feed

Search This Site:



© Copyright 2009-2022, David M. French.

All original content by David M French is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Other names, titles, and images are registered trademarks of their respective companies or organizations. All rights reserved.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.