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The National Incident Management System: Rethinking Command and Control

By Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA

An Army is a collection of armed men obliged to obey one man.

Every change in the rules which impairs the principle weakens the army.

-William Tecumseh Sherman

Problems in the field do not improve until someone takes charge. From the

simplest radio call to a major terrorist incident, the situation doesn’t move from chaos to

normalcy without a leader. Thinking back on your career you can likely remember

situations spiraling downward because a lack of leadership caused poor communications,

inconsistent missions and jeopardized safety.

Clearly, a law enforcement agency’s response to an incident is greatly improved

by establishing strong leadership at the scene. Through real-life situations we have

learned hard lessons about tactical leadership concepts such as unified command, span of

control and the necessity of good followership. Sometimes, law enforcement isn’t the

leader at the scene of an incident, but it almost always part of the larger mission. By

exploring how tactical command concepts have developed and examining some of the

key components of the state-of-the-art response methodology we can improve our on-

scene leadership skills.

Developing a national standard

In 1991, in Oakland, California a wildfire devastated the East Bay Hillsi. Before

it was over, 3400 homes were destroyed; one police officer, one firefighter and 25

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civilians were killed. Although California had the Statewide Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid

System, the response of hundreds of first responders (police, fire, medical and public

utilities) was uncoordinated primarily because they had different organizational structures

and command systems. By 1993, in response to the 1991 Oakland fire, the California

Legislature mandated the use of the Standardized Emergency Management System

(SEMS) which incorporates the Incident Command System (ICS)ii.

In 1994, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) adopted SEMSiii

as its command and control paradigm. Throughout the 1990s, many agencies, such as the

United States Coast Guardiv

, began to adopt SEMS/ICS. The 9/11 Commission noted

that the emergency response to the World Trade Center (WTC) was much different from

the response to the Pentagon. In addition to the WTC first responders having a much

more difficult mission because the disaster occurred hundreds of feet above their heads,

the command and control response in New York was different than the response in

Washington.

Washington, D.C. is an area rife with overlapping and contiguous first responder

agencies. Just prior to 9/11, many of the agencies in D.C. participated in a SEMS/ICS

disaster response simulation. The agencies had adopted and trained in SEMS/ICS. The

9/11 commission report compared and contrasted the Pentagon response with the NYC

response. They noted that the use of SEMS/ICS by agencies responding to the Pentagon

had enhanced coordination, speeded rescue and recovery operations and saved lives.

The formation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) included the

folding of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) into the DHS

bureaucratic structure. Based on recommendations from the 9/11 Commission Report,

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the DHS adopted SEMS/ICS as the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

NIMS is now our nation’s method of first responder command and control. Indeed, after

January 1, 2004, adoption and training in NIMS is a mandatory requirement for DHS

grant funding. In other words, if your agency has not adopted and trained in NIMS, you

can lose points in the grant funding review process. Perhaps more importantly, when

your community is faced with a major event, a lack of standardized command and control

systems can cause the loss of life, additional property damage and a delay in returning to

normal. The foundation of NIMS is the Incident Command System (ICS).

Unified Command

The heart of ICS is the concept of Unified Commandv. Unified Command is

founded in the leadership principle of Unity of Command; wherein each person within an

organization reports to only one designated person. Whenever multiple jurisdictions

and/or multiple agencies from within a jurisdiction become involved in an incident each

brings its own chain of command. The ICS concept calls for responding agencies to join

together in a Unified Command for the duration of the incident.

Production Note: Call out Box: Unified Command has a number of advantages:

One set of objectives

Collective approaches

Improved information flow/coordination

Better understanding of objectives, priorities, limitations, and

restrictions

No compromise of authority

Each agency’s plans, actions, and constraints are known

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Optimizes combined efforts

To facilitate unified command, agencies must adopt a certain protocols. For

instance, ICS calls for agencies to use common terminology when responding to an ICS

led incident, use a designated modular command structure; and, certain common

command and control principles. Typically, agencies overcome differences in

terminology by emphasizing communications in plain language. Codes like the “ten

system” are replaced with plain language. Although this may somewhat lengthen

communications, under emergency circumstances clarity trumps brevity.

Incident Command

The first step in returning any emergency situation to normal is someone taking

charge. ICS is different from many other bureaucratic structures in that ICS calls for the

most qualified person to assume responsibility over an incident. Imagine a police officer

working graveyards and seeing black smoke billowing against the night sky. He or she

doesn’t know where the fire is burning, but using the smoke as a landmark navigates to

the fire. Arriving before fire personnel, the officer must temporarily take charge.

Although they don’t have fire fighting equipment the officer can make a “situation

report” requesting fire personnel, begin evacuation, establish a perimeter and determine

ingress and egress routes. That police officer is, at the beginning, the Incident

Commander.

After the arrival of the firefighters, the ranking firefighter becomes the Incident

Commander because they are the most qualified person to lead the incident. This is the

beginning of a Unified Command. The police officer still maintains the perimeter and

assist in keeping ingress and egress routes open, but they are essentially subordinate to

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the firefighter who is now the Incident Commander. Conversely, if the burning structure

contained a sniper, the police officer would maintain incident command because they are

better equipped to handle the sniper.

Production Note: Call out Box: ICS has been proven effective for

responding to all types of incidents, including:

Hazardous materials

Planned events

Natural disasters

Multi-agency law enforcement incidents like warrant services,

complex investigations

Multiple casualties (major traffic collisions, fires, etc.)

Wide-area search and rescue missions

Incident Command Structure

ICS is referred to as a modular system because it has the capacity to expand and

contract based on the emergency. If the problem can be handled with few personnel and

minimal resources then an ICS based Command Postvi

may only have an incident

commander who makes decisions, plans and assigns tasks. An emergency with only an

incident commander would be relatively small and short in duration. However, as an

emergency outgrows the ability of a single person, modules can be added.

Production Note: Insert the diagram with the Caption: An emergency

could be handled with an incident commander and four subordinate

commanders. The incident command might also have an Information

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Officer for the media, a Safety Officer to monitor safety conditions; and,

Liaison Officer as the on-scene contact for other agencies.

Usually the first module, or subordinate commander added, is an Operations

Chief. This person is responsible for carrying out the direction of the incident

commander. The Operations Chief might have additional assistant chiefs either divided

by the geography of the incident or by the types of services. An example of geographic

division would be an inner and outer perimeter. Or, in the case of a relatively localized

emergency, the Operations Chief might allocate subordinate commands based on duties.

For example, at a local emergency you might have an Operations Chief in charge of a fire

branch and another in charge of a law enforcement branch.

The next module added might be the Logistics Chief. This person is responsible

for obtaining, organizing and allocating all resources such as personnel, equipment and

supplies. For instance, during a flood the Incident Commander might direct the

Operations Chief to conduct helicopter rescue operations. The Operations Chief would

communicate the personnel and equipment needs to the Logistic Chief. The Logistic

Chief would locate and assign personnel and resources to the mission. The Operations

Chief would brief the personnel on the mission and oversee completion.

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We all know that situations do not unfold as clinically as has been described.

However, the closer we come to handling emergencies within the framework of ICS the

more lives and property we can save. Moreover, emergency situations are brought to

conclusion by getting ahead of the emergency. This is done through the ICS planning

process. At larger emergencies (based on size and duration) a Planning Chief is needed.

This person takes the overall goals of the Incident Commander and prepares Action Plans

which are implemented by the Operations Chief. This frees the Operations Chief to

handle the here and now, while having someone else prepare for the next step.

Span of Control

ICS recognizes that you simply can’t do everything yourself and that you can only

effectively work directly with a limited number of people. While an Incident

Commander may ultimately have thousands of personnel deployed, he or she can only

communicate directly with relatively few. Span of Control is the management concept

that a leader can only directly supervise a limited number of people. The number often

cited is somewhere between seven and ten. This same principle applies to all subordinate

personnel. The Operations Chief has seven to ten direct reports, and so on and so forth,

down the chain of command.

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) relies on the Incident

Command System for the operational management of disasters and emergencies. Many

agencies are, in someway, adopting and training in NIMS/ICS. As a first responder you

can improve your incident leadership skills in at least two ways. First, you should seek

certified training from the DHS. Any person can sign on and use the FEMA training

tools to receive certified training in NIMS/ICS as well as a wide variety of disaster

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related courses. Moreover, once you successfully complete these web-based courses an

official certificate of completion is sent to you. If you have been certified, the US

Department of Labor has a number of e-tools, or web-based tutorials for refresher

training. Among them is an excellent overview on ICS. You can access the e-tools at

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/ics/.

About the Author:

Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA is the owner of Hi Tech Criminal

Justice Online and the author of Police Technology (Prentice Hall), Leadership: Texas

Hold ‘em Style (Quill Driver/Word Dancer Press) and, NYPD to LAPD: An Introduction

to Policing (Prentice Hall). He can be reached at raymond@hitechcj.com.

i Buntin, John, “Disaster Master” Governing Magazine/December 2001

http://www.governing.com/archive/2001/dec/disaster.txt (August 6, 2003) ii Cardwell, Michael D., “Nationwide Application of the Incident Command System is the Key” The FBI

Law Enforcement Bulletin, October 2000. iii

Federal Emergency Management Agency, Exemplary Practices in Emergency Management, Standardized

Emergency Management System (SEMS), http://www.fema.gov/rrr/exp_06.shtm (May 2, 2003) iv Cardwell, Michael D., “Nationwide Application of the Incident Command System is the Key” The FBI

Law Enforcement Bulletin, October 2000. v The idea of Unified Command is a fairly common military principle. The operation of combined arms in

a defined geographic area or defined mission require that one commander direct all operations. vi With the Incident Command System (ICS), the location where the Incident Commander manages the

emergency is called the Incident Command Post. Wide-spread emergencies are often coordinated and

managed through the use of a pre-designated facility commonly called an Emergency Operations Center

(EOC). Larger emergencies may have several field Incident Command Posts (ICP) that are coordinated

through an EOC. The EOC, receiving information from the ICP, coordinates the deployment of personnel

and resources to the various ICPs. The ICPs, use the personnel and resources to manage the incident

locally. This is the type of arrangement we could have expected during Katrina. A regional EOC

managing the flow of personnel and resources to smaller EOCs or Field ICPs.