The skill sets for Command Staff are as highly specialized as those of fi rst responders in tactical operations. They are just in different fi elds. No one would want a Public Information Offi cer without experience responding to the media or excellent writing skills for crafting offi cial news releases. On the other hand, no one would expect an interior fi refi ghter to have to come away from putting out the fi re to appear in an on-scene television interview while the fi re was burning. The PIO supports the fi refi ghter by taking care of communications with the media.
Similarly, a Planning Section Chief should have skills in organizing resources, reports, and information to adequately put together an IAP. Planning skills are not the skills of a law enforcement offi cer establishing a perimeter to limit access to a crime scene. In the same way, one would not expect to fi nd an Emergency Medical Technician signing a memorandum of agreement for ten ALS teams and vehicles when there is a Finance/Administration Section available.
Some fi rst responders have expressed a concern about the use of the term
“command” when referring to the ICS command and general staff in response to an incident. This is especially the case with the Incident Commander position. In a large incident, where a Command Post or an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has been activated, fi rst responders are often hesitant about the command structure, particularly when their Chief is not the Incident Commander. There is a long and well established history of fi refi ghters being led by fi refi ghters, law enforcement offi cers led by law enforcement offi cers and so forth. There is also an expectation, valid or not, that the person in command will be an individual with suffi cient experience on the ground, in the trenches, however you state it, such as a seasoned fi refi ghter who earned the right to “command” fi refi ghters on scene.
If the roles and responsibilities of all Command Staff or General Staff positions involved commanding the responders, it would be a normal expectation that they had earned the right to command by having served in the respective units. But Command and General Staff personnel in the Command Post or EOC are not there to command the fi rst responders. They are there to support them. Yes, they do exercise supervisory responsibilities for their own staff, but not for fi rst responders in tactical operations, unless they are serving as the Operations Section Chief. What about the Incident Commander? As the position title implies, the Incident Commander is responsible for the “overall management of the incident.”8 Managing the incident is not the same as commanding the fi rst responders in tactical operations. That is a responsibility of the Operations Section Chief. Each member of the Command and General Staff has a specifi c set of functions to supervise and perform. Each is a specialty.
First responders need to see the Command and General Staff as those using special knowledge, ability, and skill to support Operations. If the support is in the form of managing resources for planning, logistics, fi nance/administration, safety, pubic information, and liaison, then the Section Chiefs and Offi cers are not “com-manding” or issuing orders to fi rst responders. If this is the case, they may not need years of experience “on the ground” as fi rst responders, but rather experience in management, particularly in their specifi c functions. As stated earlier, this book is not a course in ICS, but a partial listing of skill sets for Command and General Staff might prove helpful in understanding their roles.
An Incident Commander is responsible several duties, some of which follow:
■ Assess the situation
■ Determine Incident Objectives
44 Chapter 3 • The Demands of Managing According to the Incident Command System (ICS)
■ Establish the immediate priorities
■ Establish an Incident Command Post
■ Consider the need for Unifi ed Command
■ Establish an appropriate organization
■ Ensure planning meetings are scheduled as required
■ Approve and authorize the implementation of the IAP
■ Ensure that adequate safety and personnel accountability measures are in place
■ Coordinate activity for al Command and General Staff
■ Coordinate with key people and offi cials
■ Keep agency administrator informed of incident status
■ Other administrative or managerial functions.
As you can see from this partial list of responsibilities, the duties are by nature managerial. They only direct support of operations through the Operations Section Chief.
A Public Information Offi cer is responsible for several tasks, some of which follow:
■ Determine from the Incident Commander if there are any limits on information release
■ Develop material for use in media briefi ngs
■ Obtain Incident Commander’s approval of media releases
■ Inform media and conduct media briefi ngs
■ Arrange for tours and other interviews or briefi ngs that may be required
■ Obtain media information that may be useful to incident planning
■ Maintain current information summaries and/or displays on the incident and provide information on status of incident to assigned personnel
■ Other duties as may be assigned regarding information.
Again, the list of responsibilities for the Public Information Offi cer indicates the degree to which such duties are supportive of operations. The same would be true if the responsibilities of the remaining Command and General Staff were examined.
There are a number of specialized training courses available for each position (see www.training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/crslist.asp).
46 Chapter 3 • The Demands of Managing According to the Incident Command System (ICS)
Summary
The ICS was designed initially and in its latest edition as part of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) to provide maximum and effi cient coordi-nation and support to fi rst responders through the use of a common management structure available to all jurisdictions. The focus was on incident management, not tactical operations, even though ICS includes the organizational framework for the Operations Section. There should be a clear differentiation between the role of the Operations Section Chief and the role of the Incident Commander. The “Ops Chief ” commands the responders who deal directly with “fi xing the problem.” His personnel are highly trained and skilled technicians in the appropriate disciplines for each inci-dent (fi refi ghters, law enforcement offi cers, IT analysts, HazMat, or EMS personnel).
Personnel in the Command and General Staff are engaged primarily in management, having skill sets related to safety, public information, liaison, planning, logistics, fi nance/
administration, and intelligence. Command and General Staff personnel are more often located in a Command Post or Emergency Operations Center rather than much closer to the source of the emergency—a burning structure, forest, or chemical tank, for example. Command and General Staff serve in supportive roles, providing manage-rial assistance to the Operations Section. They manage by objectives determined in concert with all Command and General Staff positions and collected and distributed each operational period in the IAP. The application of management skills in this manner is critical to the success of fi rst responders.
Discussion Questions
1. Describe how each of the members of the Command and General Staff support the Operations Section as they “fi x the problem.”
2. How are the requirements from an Operations Section Chief communicated to the Command and General Staff, and where are they recorded?
3. Explain how the responsibilities of Command and General Staff are considered to be managerial rather than tactical.
4. Describe the role of the Safety Offi cer; the Public Information Offi cer; the Liaison Offi cer.
5. List three ways in which the Finance/Administration Section can support Operations, and describe one managerial skill set that would be used to do so.
References
1. National Incident Management System. March 1, 2004. Department of Homeland Security, Appendix A, p. 63.
2. Firescope California. June, 2004. Field Operations Guide, ICS 420–1. p. 7-3.
3. Firescope California. 2004. Field Operations Guide, ICS 420-1, p. 5-7.
4. Lerbinger, Otto. 1997. The Crisis Manager, Facing Risk and Responsibility. Mahwah, New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. xi.
5. Firescope California. 2004. Field Operations Guide, ICS 420-1, p. 5-4.
6. Firescope California. 2004. Field Operations Guide, ICS 420-1, p. 5-5.
7. Covello, Vincent T. (2006). “Rick communication and message mapping: A new tool for commu-nicating effectively in public health emergencies and disasters.” Journal of Emergency Management, Vol. 4, No. 3, May/June 2006, p. 39.
8. Firescope California. 2004. Field Operations Guide, ICS 420-1, p. 5-3.
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