NIMS has been adopted by the federal government as the common and required method to manage incidents of all types be they natural or human caused disasters. ICS, or the Incident Command System is incorporated into, and is the largest component of NIMS.
ICS was developed following the disastrous 1970 wildland fire season in California, where dozens of very large fires were crossing agency jurisdictions in an unprecedented fashion. The U.S. Congress directed, by law, the U.S. Forest Service to lead an effort called "FIRESCOPE" which then stood for FIREfighting RESources in Southern California Organized for Potential Emergencies. Participants included the California Department of Forestry, Los Angeles County Fire Department, Los Angeles City Fire Department, Ventura County Fire Department, Santa Barbara County Fire Department, as well as the U.S. Forest Service. By the late 1970's the beginning versions of ICS were being used on selected incidents in southern California. The most important features of ICS were the ability to bring diverse agencies such as law enforcement, EMS, fire, animal control, public works, private utility companies, and others under one umbrella using common terminology, command structure, finance, liability concerns, training, and qualifications. Prior to this every component of managing large or small incidents differed between agencies. The federal government, for example, used a system for wildland fire called "Large Fire Organization" (LFO) and it was not easily adapted to non-fire incidents involving other agencies.
The first coordinator for FIRESCOPE was the fire management officer from the Angeles National Forest and the position required both a keen understanding of the problems agencies were having working together and a great deal of political wisdom and patience. In 1979 this individual decided that ICS was well on its way and sought out quieter surroundings on a National Forest away from the pressures of wildland fire management in California. He chose, ironically, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southern Washington to spend the remaining short years of his career. As he moved into his new position as the Forest's Fire Management Officer (FMO) little did he know that the Forest's most spectacular feature, Mt. Saint Helens, would interrupt his plans. State and local authorities did not have the experience, resources, and training to handle such an event and traditional local functions were handled or coordinated by the U.S. Forest Service and the Gifford Pinchot's FMO. When the Mt. Saint Helens incident quieted somewhat, this FMO finally decided to retire.
Since the initial adoption of ICS by agencies in California ICS has evolved and been adopted nationwide. In recent years FEMA changed the system they were using and adopted ICS. With the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, ICS is now required for every emergency management related organization in the country. The work of this Forest Service FMO, and the fine agencies involved in the initial FIRESCOPE effort was obviously very good as it has proved to be useful in a wide variety of circumstances and geographical locations. Little did I know, seven years into my career in 1980, that my struggles trying to understand what a "division supervisor's" role was when I was so used to listening for the orders of the "sector boss" on the radio. The term "Incident Commander" (IC) seemed other worldly at the time. When we traveled from out of state in the transition period between LFO and ICS we carried a matrix which showed the equivalent positions in each organization so we could have some idea of what we were dealing with.
It should be noted that many of the elements of ICS were borrowed from the military, especially command components developed in World War II such as task forces and strike teams. I'm not familiar enough with military command methods to expound on this.
In 1983, following a large swarm of earthquakes initiated by the movement of magma deep underground near Mammoth Lakes, California, federal, state, and local authorities needed a plan to handle any incidents that might result from potential volcanic related events. This plan was to be called "Plan Caldera" and the Forest Service called the former Angeles and Gifford Pinchot FMO out of retirement to write the plan. He was well known in emergency management circles as "the father of ICS." His headquarters for this effort happened to be a couple of doors down from my office in the Bridgeport Ranger Station of the Toiyabe National Forest in Bridgeport, California. It was truly a privilege to have this man close by for several months and learn what I could from him. His observations on emergency management were fascinating.
The development of ICS, its effectiveness, the contribution of thousands of government agencies at all levels, including the military, and many private companies in a huge partnership, is not well publicized. It is conveniently forgotten by those who repeat the phrase "the government can't do anything right." My years in the federal government exposed me to scores of programs, like ICS, that had been developed by hundreds of thousands of dedicated and knowledgable civil service employees, that I had no knowledge of prior to my years in forestry school at Northern Arizona University and with the U.S. Forest Service. Negative news sells better than positive news, no matter who is involved, and it is far easier to be cynical than constructive.
Anyway, enough for the history and civics lesson. Within the last year I came across a website, that although the work of a private incident management consulting firm, is very informative. One of the important components of ICS is common standards for the resources used on incidents. The following link shows not only fire resources categorized into "Types" but public works, animal control, law enforcement, and EMS as well. It is quite interesting as this is quite an expansion of resource listings from the first ones I came across in the late 1970's when I first worked as a wildland fire crew squad boss on a large southern California wildfire.
http://nimsonline.com/resource_typing_system/index.htm
I hope you find this background of ICS and the link interesting.
ICS was developed following the disastrous 1970 wildland fire season in California, where dozens of very large fires were crossing agency jurisdictions in an unprecedented fashion. The U.S. Congress directed, by law, the U.S. Forest Service to lead an effort called "FIRESCOPE" which then stood for FIREfighting RESources in Southern California Organized for Potential Emergencies. Participants included the California Department of Forestry, Los Angeles County Fire Department, Los Angeles City Fire Department, Ventura County Fire Department, Santa Barbara County Fire Department, as well as the U.S. Forest Service. By the late 1970's the beginning versions of ICS were being used on selected incidents in southern California. The most important features of ICS were the ability to bring diverse agencies such as law enforcement, EMS, fire, animal control, public works, private utility companies, and others under one umbrella using common terminology, command structure, finance, liability concerns, training, and qualifications. Prior to this every component of managing large or small incidents differed between agencies. The federal government, for example, used a system for wildland fire called "Large Fire Organization" (LFO) and it was not easily adapted to non-fire incidents involving other agencies.
The first coordinator for FIRESCOPE was the fire management officer from the Angeles National Forest and the position required both a keen understanding of the problems agencies were having working together and a great deal of political wisdom and patience. In 1979 this individual decided that ICS was well on its way and sought out quieter surroundings on a National Forest away from the pressures of wildland fire management in California. He chose, ironically, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southern Washington to spend the remaining short years of his career. As he moved into his new position as the Forest's Fire Management Officer (FMO) little did he know that the Forest's most spectacular feature, Mt. Saint Helens, would interrupt his plans. State and local authorities did not have the experience, resources, and training to handle such an event and traditional local functions were handled or coordinated by the U.S. Forest Service and the Gifford Pinchot's FMO. When the Mt. Saint Helens incident quieted somewhat, this FMO finally decided to retire.
Since the initial adoption of ICS by agencies in California ICS has evolved and been adopted nationwide. In recent years FEMA changed the system they were using and adopted ICS. With the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, ICS is now required for every emergency management related organization in the country. The work of this Forest Service FMO, and the fine agencies involved in the initial FIRESCOPE effort was obviously very good as it has proved to be useful in a wide variety of circumstances and geographical locations. Little did I know, seven years into my career in 1980, that my struggles trying to understand what a "division supervisor's" role was when I was so used to listening for the orders of the "sector boss" on the radio. The term "Incident Commander" (IC) seemed other worldly at the time. When we traveled from out of state in the transition period between LFO and ICS we carried a matrix which showed the equivalent positions in each organization so we could have some idea of what we were dealing with.
It should be noted that many of the elements of ICS were borrowed from the military, especially command components developed in World War II such as task forces and strike teams. I'm not familiar enough with military command methods to expound on this.
In 1983, following a large swarm of earthquakes initiated by the movement of magma deep underground near Mammoth Lakes, California, federal, state, and local authorities needed a plan to handle any incidents that might result from potential volcanic related events. This plan was to be called "Plan Caldera" and the Forest Service called the former Angeles and Gifford Pinchot FMO out of retirement to write the plan. He was well known in emergency management circles as "the father of ICS." His headquarters for this effort happened to be a couple of doors down from my office in the Bridgeport Ranger Station of the Toiyabe National Forest in Bridgeport, California. It was truly a privilege to have this man close by for several months and learn what I could from him. His observations on emergency management were fascinating.
The development of ICS, its effectiveness, the contribution of thousands of government agencies at all levels, including the military, and many private companies in a huge partnership, is not well publicized. It is conveniently forgotten by those who repeat the phrase "the government can't do anything right." My years in the federal government exposed me to scores of programs, like ICS, that had been developed by hundreds of thousands of dedicated and knowledgable civil service employees, that I had no knowledge of prior to my years in forestry school at Northern Arizona University and with the U.S. Forest Service. Negative news sells better than positive news, no matter who is involved, and it is far easier to be cynical than constructive.
Anyway, enough for the history and civics lesson. Within the last year I came across a website, that although the work of a private incident management consulting firm, is very informative. One of the important components of ICS is common standards for the resources used on incidents. The following link shows not only fire resources categorized into "Types" but public works, animal control, law enforcement, and EMS as well. It is quite interesting as this is quite an expansion of resource listings from the first ones I came across in the late 1970's when I first worked as a wildland fire crew squad boss on a large southern California wildfire.
http://nimsonline.com/resource_typing_system/index.htm
I hope you find this background of ICS and the link interesting.
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