Incident Command System.docx

JULIUS BERNARD E. SAN JOSE

MD-MPA III

INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM (ICS) 1. DEFINITION OF INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM (ICS) - Incident command system (ICS) is a standardized, on-scene, all-hazard incident management concept that is specifically designed to allow its users to adopt an integrated organizational structure, equal to the complexity and demands of single or multiple incidents without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries. It can be used by all Disaster Risk Reduction Management Centers (DRRMCs) member agencies and response groups. An ICS is considered a fluid organization for it can be expanded or sized down to fit the need of the incident. Furthermore, it is an excellent means of determining how resources will be used, who will coordinate them and how information will be communicated using terminologies. 2. OVERVIEW, PURPOSE, AND BENEFITS OF ICS OVERVIEW - ICS consists of a standard management hierarchy and procedures for managing temporary incident(s) of any size. ICS procedures should be pre-established and sanctioned by participating authorities, and personnel should be well-trained prior to an incident. - ICS includes procedures to select and form temporary management hierarchies to control funds, personnel, facilities, equipment, and communications. Personnel are assigned according to established standards and procedures previously sanctioned by participating authorities. ICS is a system designed to be used or applied from the time an incident occurs until the requirement for management and operations no longer exist. - ICS is interdisciplinary and organizationally flexible to meet the following management challenges:  Meets the needs of a jurisdiction to cope with incidents of any kind or complexity (i.e. it expands or contracts as needed).  Allows personnel from a wide variety of agencies to meld rapidly into a common management structure with common terminology.  Provide logistical and administrative support to operational staff.  Be cost effective by avoiding duplication of efforts and continuing overhead.  Provide a unified, centrally authorized emergency organization. PURPOSE - As a model tool for command, control, and coordination of a response, ICS helps to ensure: a. the safety of responders and others; b. the achievement of tactical objectives; and c. the efficient use of resources.

BENEFITS - It meets the needs of incidents of any kind or size - Allows personnel from a variety of agencies to meld rapidly into a common management structure - Provides accountability and a planning process - Provides logistical and administrative support to operational staff - ICS is cost effective by avoiding duplication of efforts 3. JURISDICTION AND LEGITIMACY (LEGAL BASIS) a. Republic Act 10121, 2010 – “An Act Strengthening the PDRRMs, providing for the NDRRM Framework and Institutionalizing the NDRRM Plan, Appropriating Funds Therefore and for Other Purposes”. The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) shall formulate standard operating procedures for the deployment of rapid assessment teams, information sharing among agencies and coordination before and after disasters at all levels. b. NDRRMC Memo Circular No. 4, 2012 - This provides the implementing guidelines on the use of the ICS under the Philippine DRRM System. c. Executive Order No. 82, 2012 – This mandate the activation of the ICS for human- induced crises. d. NDRRMC Memo No. 43 s 2016 - This provides the guidelines on the interoperability of the Incident Management Teams and Response Clusters. e. NDRRMC Memo No. 44 s 2016 - This provides the guidelines on the mobilization of Incident Management Teams. f. NDRRMC-NSC JMC No. 1 s 2016 - requires the use of ICS as an integral component of contingency plan for both natural and human-induced hazards. 4. BASIS 4.1 INCIDENTS - Incidents are defined within ICS as unplanned situations necessitating a response. Examples of incidents may include:  Emergency medical situations (ambulance service)  Hazardous material spills, releases to the air (toxic chemicals), releases to a drinking water supply  Hostage crises  Man-made disasters such as vehicle crashes, industrial accidents, train derailments, or structure fires  Natural disasters such as wildfires, flooding, earthquake or tornado  Public Health incidents, such as disease outbreaks  Search and Rescue operations  Technological crisis  Terrorist attacks  Traffic incidents

4.2 EVENTS - Events are defined within ICS as planned situations. Incident command is increasingly applied to events both in emergency management and non-emergency management settings. Examples of events may include:  Concerts  Parades and other ceremonies  Fairs and other gatherings  Training exercises 5. KEY CONCEPTS / PRINCIPLES OF ICS 5.1 UNITY OF COMMAND - The unity of command establishes a clear line of supervision and every individual has a designated supervisor. This goes hand in hand with the chain of command which centers on the ranking of management positions in line of authority, that is, the lower subordinates of an organization are connected to higher levels. 5.2 COMMON TERMINOLOGY - ICS communication should be done in plain language and does not make use of radio codes, jargons, agency-specific codes, and acronyms. The use of common terminology applies to: a. Organizational Elements – there is consistent pattern for designating each level of the organization b. Resource Descriptions – Common designations are assigned to various kinds of resources. Major resource personnel, major equipment, and supply items are given common names and are listed by type and kind with respect to their capabilities. c. Incident Facilities – facilities used on incidents are named, and referenced on maps, with the common terminology and symbology that could be easily understand by all personnel. d. Position Title – All the ICS managers and supervisors are referred to by position titles (e.g. Officer, Chief, Director) to provide a way to place the most qualified personnel in organizational positions on multi-agency incidents without confusion and provides a standardized method for ordering personnel to fill positions. 5.3 MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVE - It is simply an application in the use of common sense. It covers four essential steps which take place on every incident regardless of size or complexity. a. Understand the legal mandate of the person in charge in the affected area b. Establish incident objectives (SMART). c. Select appropriate strategy which describes general method/s that should be utilized alone or in combination. d. Perform tactical direction which describes the specific action that must be accomplished within the selected strategy.

5.4 FLEXIBLE AND MODULAR ORGANIZATION - ICS organization is said to be flexible for it is establish based on the size, complexity, and specific hazards of an incident. Furthermore, ICS organization is also modular in a sense that it is develop in a top-down manner, starting from the Incident Commander (IC) down to the subordinates and only positions needed for a specific incident will be filled activated. 5.5 SPAN OF CONTROL - Refers to the ability of a supervisor to effectively manage a number of people or in case of ICS, his/her subordinates. An effective span of control is vital on incidents where safety and accountability are top priority. The rule of thumb for the span of control in ICS is one supervisor to five subordinates. Organizational adjustment is considered if there are fewer than three or more than seven people who are reporting to the supervisor. 6. COORDINATION IN ICS 6.1 INCIDENT ACTION PLANS - It is either written or oral plan that provides all incident supervisory personnel with appropriate action and is used to communicate with response goals, operational objectives, and support activities throughout the ICS organization. 6.2 COMPREHENSIVE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Comprehensive resource management is a key management principle that implies that all assets and personnel during an event need to be tracked and accounted for. It can also include processes for reimbursement for resources, as appropriate. Resource management includes processes for:  Categorizing resources.  Ordering resources.  Dispatching resources.  Tracking resources.  Recovering resources. - Comprehensive resource management ensures that visibility is maintained over all resources so they can be moved quickly to support the preparation and response to an incident, and ensuring a graceful demobilization. It also applies to the classification of resources by type and kind, and the categorization of resources by their status.  Assigned resources are those that are working on a field assignment under the direction of a supervisor.  Available resources are those that are ready for deployment(staged), but have not been assigned to a field assignment.  Out-of-service resources are those that are not in either the "available" or "assigned" categories. Resources can be "out-of-service" for a variety of reasons including:

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resupplying after a sortie (most common), shortfall in staffing, personnel taking a rest, damaged or inoperable. T-Cards (ICS 219, Resource Status Card) are most commonly used to track these resources. The cards are placed in T-Card racks located at an Incident Command Post for easy updating and visual tracking of resource status.

6.3 INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS - Communication within ICS is highly essential in maintaining a coordinated system and every incident also needs a Communication Plan apart from the Incident Action Plan. Integrated communications are facilitated through the development and utilization of a common communication plan and the interoperability of communication equipment, procedures, and systems. There are a lot of communication networks that may be established depending on the size and complexity of the incident. These may include: a. Command Net – it is established to link supervisory personnel from Incident Commander down to and including division and group supervisors b. Tactical Net – it may be established for each branch, or for divisions and groups, depending upon the hardware and frequency availability as well as the specific incident needs c. Support Net – it is established on larger incidents to handle logistics traffic and resource status changes d. Ground-to-Air – Important in coordinating ground-to-air traffic e. Air-to-Air – used in coordination between aircrafts assigned in times of incident 7. COMPOSITION / ORGANIZATION OF ICS - The ICS organization is built around five major functions that are applied on any incident whether it is large or small. It may be expanded or may be needing only those positions that are required depending on the complexity of the incident. 7.1 INCIDENT COMMANDER - The incident commander’s main responsibility is the overall management of the incident and is selected by qualifications and experience. Specifically, an incident commander does the following: a. Assesses the situation and receives briefing from Responsible Official or outgoing Incident Commander b. Determines incident objectives and strategies c. Establishes priorities in consultation with the staff d. Establishes Incident Command Post (ICP) e. Establishes appropriate ICS organization based on the situation f. Ensures panning meeting are scheduled as required g. Approves and authorizes the implementation of the Incident Action Plan h. Ensures that adequate safety measures are in place i. Coordinates with key people and officials

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Keeps DRRMC Chairperson and/or Responsible Official informed of incident status Authorizes release of information to the news media Approves requests for additional resources and for the release of the resources Coordinate activity for all Command and General Staff

7.2 COMMAND STAFF - The Incident Commander may assume the staff role in public information, liaison, and safety that sometimes consume a lot of the IC’s time and effort. Command Staff is essential to lessen the responsibility of the Incident Commander hence, it is important to recognize their importance and fill the positions in the earliest possible time in an incident. a. Information Officer – acts as the focal person for information dissemination and is responsible for developing and releasing information about the incident to the news media, incident personnel, and to the other appropriate agencies and organizations. There should only be one Lead Information Officer per incident and may have assistants if necessary. In determining a location to work in at an incident, the Information Officer should be separate from the Command Post but close enough to have access to information coming and going. An area for media relations and press or media briefings must be established, as well as an area for information display and handouts may be printed for dissemination. b. Liaison Officer – acts as the contact for Agency Representatives assigned to the incident by assisting or cooperating agencies such as DRRMC members and partner agencies. c. Safety Officer – develops and recommends measures for ensuing personnel safety and assesses and/or anticipates hazardous and unsafe situations. The Safety Officer have the power to correct unsafe situations by working through the chain of command. However, the Safety Officer may exercise emergency authority to directly stop unsafe situations if the personnel are in imminent life-threatening danger. 7.3 GENERAL STAFF - The General Staff is composed of Operation, Finance, Logistics, and Planning sections. a. Operations Section – it is the first organization being assigned to an incident though there are no precise guidelines as to when it will be established. It is responsible for managing all tactical operations to an incident. The need to expand the Operations Section depends on the number of tactical resources involved and is influenced by the span of control considerations. It is headed by Operations Section Chief and consists of the following elements:  Ground or surface-based tactical resources – tactical resources can be placed into an Operations organization made up of branches, divisions, or groups.  Branches – used when the number of Divisions or Groups exceeds the span of control and can either be geographical or functional. These are

identified by Roman numerals or by functional names and is managed by a Supervisor.  Divisions – divides geographically based on the needs of the incident and are labeled using alphabet characters and is also managed by a Supervisor.  Groups – this is established based on the needs of the incident and describes functional areas of operation. Groups are labeled according to the job that they are assigned. They work wherever their assigned task is needed and are not limited geographically. However, divisions and groups can work on the same area of an incident as long as they have separate supervisors.  Special Operations Branch – one example is Air Operations Branch which is activated to coordinate the use of aviation resources. These aviation resources may be used to provide logistical support. Such branch may be established separately if the complexity of the air operations or the number of aircrafts assigned to the incident is need of additional management support.  Task Forces – combination of mixed resources with common communications operating under the direct supervision of the Task Force Leader.  Strike Teams – a set of number of resources of the same kind and type with common communications operating under the direct supervision of a Strike Team Leader.  Single Resources – it may be an individual, a piece of equipment and its personnel complement, or a crew or team of individuals with an identified supervisor.  Staging Areas – these are temporary location for placing resources available for incident assignments and should be located so resources can be available at the scene in the shortest time possible. All resources within the Staging Area belong to the incident. Several Staging Areas may be used on a single incident. Once an area is designated, a manager will be assigned and is expected to report to the Operations Section Chief. In the absence of the Operations Section Chief, the Staging Area Manager will report to the Incident Commander. b. Planning Section – headed by the Planning Section Chief, this section is responsible for the managing all information relevant to an incident. This section collects, evaluates, and processes, and disseminates information for use at an incident. The dissemination of information can be in a form of the Incident Actin Plan, formal briefings, or through map and status board displays. There are four units in the Planning Section, namely:  Resources Unit – responsible for maintaining the status of all assigned resources (primary and support) at an incident through overseeing the check-

in of all resources, maintaining a status-keeping system indicating current location and status of all resources, and maintenance of a master list of all resources.  Situation Unit – collects, processes, and organizes incident information. The unit may prepare future projections of incident growth, maps, and intelligence information. There are three positions who report directly to the Situation Unit Leader:  Display Processor – maintains incident status information obtained from Field Observers, rescue status reports, and others.  Field Observer – collects and reports on situation information from the field.  Weather Observer – collects current weather information from the weather service or an assigned meteorologist.  Documentation Unit – responsible for the maintenance of accurate, up-todate incident files and will be stored for legal, analytical, and historical purposes. Duplication services are also provided by this unit.  Demobilization Unit – responsible for the development of the Incident Demobilization Plan which should begin at the early stages of an incident, particularly in the development of rosters of personnel and resources, thus ensuring the efficient and safe demobilization of all resources. - The Planning Section Chief will determine the need to activate or deactivate a unit. If a unit is not activated, the responsibility for that unit will remain with the Planning Section Chief. - A Technical Specialist may be required and may function within the Planning Section if they will be needed for a long time or if several specialists are assigned to the same task. Technical Specialists may also be assigned wherever services are required. c. Logistics Section – provides resources and all other services needed to support the incident, except for the aviation support. This is section is headed by the Logistics Section Chief who may assign a Deputy when all the designated units within the section are activated.  Supply Unit – responsible for ordering, processing, and storing all incidentrelated resources (tactical and support resources, and expendable and nonexpendable support supplies). Two managers report directly to the Supply Unit Leader:  Ordering Manager – places all orders for incident supplies and equipment  Receiving and Distribution Manager – Receives and distributes all supplies and equipment and for its service and repairs.  Facilities Unit – responsible for set-up, maintenance, and demobilization of all incident support facilities except Staging Areas. Facilities unit also provides

security services to the incident as needed. Three managers report directly to the Facilities Unit Leader:  Security Manager – provides safeguards necessary for the protection of personnel and property from loss or damage.  Base Manager – ensures that appropriate sanitation, security, and facility management services are in place at the Base.  Camp Manager – responsible for providing non-technical coordination for all Units operating within the Camp.  Ground Support Unit – responsible for the maintenance, service, fueling of all mobile equipment and vehicles, with exception of aviation resources. The Equipment Manager reports directly to Ground Support Unit Leader and is also responsible for the ground transportation of personnel, supplies, and equipment, and the development of the Incident Traffic Plan.  Communication Unit – responsible for developing plans for the use of incident communications equipment and facilities, installing and testing of communications equipment, supervision of the Incident Communications Center, and distribution and maintenance of communication equipment.  Food Unit – responsible for the food needs for the entire incident, including all remote locations as well as providing food for personnel unable to leave tactical field assignments. Food Unit interacts with the Facilities Unit for location of fixed-feeding site, the Supply Unit for food ordering, and Ground and Air Units for transporting food.  Medical Unit – responsible for all medical services for incident assigned personnel. The unit develops an Incident Medical Plan which is to be included in the Incident Action Plan. The unit also develops procedures for managing major and minor medical emergencies, provides medical aid, and assists the Finance/Administration Section with processing injury-related claims. d. Finance/Administration Unit – responsible for managing all financial aspects of an incident such as monitoring, incident costs, maintaining financial records, administering procurement contracts, and performing time records. The unit is headed by the Finance/Administration Section Chief. Not all incidents will require this section. Only when the involved agencies have a specific need for such services will the Section be activated. There are four units which may be established within the Finance/Administration Section:  Time Unit – responsible for ensuring the accurate recording of daily personnel time, compliance with specific agency time recording policies, and managing commissary operations if established at the incident. Two positions may report to the Time Unit Leader:  Personnel Time Recorder – oversees the recording time of all personnel assigned to an incident. Also, he records personnel-related items.  Commissary Manager – establish, maintain, and demobilize commissary.

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Procurement Unit – responsible for maintaining equipment time records and all financial matters pertaining to vendor contracts, leases, and fiscal agreements. The unit also establishes local sources for equipment and supplies, manages all equipment rental agreements, and processes all rental and supply fiscal document billing invoices.  Equipment Time Recorder – Oversees recording of time for all equipment assigned to an incident. Also posts charges or credits, for fuel, parts, service, and others used by equipment. Compensation / Claims Unit – Separate personnel may perform each function of Compensation-for-Injury and Claims. Compensation-for-Injury oversees the completion of all forms required by workers’ compensation and local agencies. The Claims is responsible for investigating all claims involving property associated with or involved in the incident. Two specialists report to the Compensation/Claims Unit Leader:  Compensation-for-Injury Specialist – Administers financial matters arising from serious injuries and deaths on an incident. Work is done in close cooperation with the Medical Unit.  Claims Specialist – Manages all claims-related activities for an incident. Cost Unit – provides all incident cost analysis. It ensures proper identification of all equipment and personnel requiring payment, records all cost data, analyzes and prepares estimates of incident costs, and maintains accurate records of incident costs.

8. DESIGN / COMPONENTS OF ICS 8.1 PERSONNEL  ICS is organized by levels, with the supervisor of each level holding a unique title (e.g. only a person in charge of a Section is labeled "Chief"; a "Director" is exclusively the person in charge of a Branch). Levels (supervising person's title) are:  Incident Commander  Command Staff Member (Officer)- Command Staff  Section (Chief)- General Staff  Branch (Director)  Division (Supervisor) - A Division is a unit arranged by geography, along jurisdictional lines if necessary, and not based on the makeup of the resources within the Division.  Group (Supervisor) - A Group is a unit arranged for a purpose, along agency lines if necessary, or based on the makeup of the resources within the Group.  Unit, Team, or Force (Leader) - Such as "Communications Unit," "Medical Strike Team," or a "Reconnaissance Task Force." A Strike Team is composed of same resources (four ambulances, for instance) while a Task Force is composed of different types of resources (one ambulance, two fire trucks, and a police car, for instance).

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Individual Resource. This is the smallest level within ICS and usually refers to a single person or piece of equipment. It can refer to a piece of equipment and operator, and less often to multiple people working together.

8.2 FACILITIES  ICS uses a standard set of facility nomenclature. ICS facilities include: Pre-Designated Incident Facilities: Response operations can form a complex structure that must be held together by response personnel working at different and often widely separate incident facilities. These facilities can include:  Incident Command Post (ICP): The ICP is the location where the Incident Commander operates during response operations. There is only one ICP for each incident or event, but it may change locations during the event. Every incident or event must have some form of an Incident Command Post. The ICP may be located in a vehicle, trailer, tent, or within a building. The ICP will be positioned outside of the present and potential hazard zone but close enough to the incident to maintain command. The ICP will be designated by the name of the incident, e.g., Trail Creek ICP.  Staging Area: Can be a location at or near an incident scene where tactical response resources are stored while they await assignment. Resources in staging area are under the control status. Staging Areas should be located close enough to the incident for a timely response, but far enough away to be out of the immediate impact zone. There may be more than one Staging Area at an incident. Staging Areas can be collocated with the ICP, Bases, Camps, Helibases, or Helispots.  A Base is the location from which primary logistics and administrative functions are coordinated and administered. The Base may be collocated with the Incident Command Post. There is only one Base per incident, and it is designated by the incident name. The Base is established and managed by the Logistics Section. The resources in the Base are always out-of-service.  Camps: Locations, often temporary, within the general incident area that are equipped and staffed to provide sleeping, food, water, sanitation, and other services to response personnel that are too far away to use base facilities. Other resources may also be kept at a camp to support incident operations if a Base is not accessible to all resources. Camps are designated by geographic location or number. Multiple Camps may be used, but not all incidents will have Camps.  A Helibase is the location from which helicopter-centered air operations are conducted. Helibases are generally used on a more long-term basis and include such services as fueling and maintenance. The Helibase is usually designated by the name of the incident, e.g. Trail Creek Helibase.  Helispots are more temporary locations at the incident, where helicopters can safely land and take off. Multiple Helispots may be used.

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On large or multi-level incidents, higher-level support facilities may be activated. These could include:  Emergency Operations Center (EOC): An emergency operations center is a central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness and emergency management, or disaster management functions at a strategic level during an emergency, and ensuring the continuity of operation of a company, political subdivision or other organization. An EOC is responsible for the strategic overview, or "big picture", of the disaster, and does not normally directly control field assets, instead making operational decisions and leaving tactical decisions to lower commands. The common functions of all EOC's is to collect, gather and analyze data; make decisions that protect life and property, maintain continuity of the organization, within the scope of applicable laws; and disseminate those decisions to all concerned agencies and individuals. In most EOC's there is one individual in charge, and that is the Emergency Manager.  Joint Information Center (JIC): A JIC is the facility whereby an incident, agency, or jurisdiction can support media representatives. Often co-located - even permanently designated - in a community or state EOC the JIC provides the location for interface between the media and the PIO. Most often the JIC also provides both space and technical assets (Internet, telephone, power) necessary for the media to perform their duties. A JIC very often becomes the "face" of an incident as it is where press releases are made available as well as where many broadcast media outlets interview incident staff. It is not uncommon for a permanently established JIC to have a window overlooking an EOC and/or a dedicated background showing agency logos or other symbols for televised interviews. The National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) at FEMA has both, for example, allowing televised interviews to show action in the NRCC behind the interviewer/interviewee while an illuminated "Department of Homeland Security" sign, prominently placed on the far wall of the NRCC, is thus visible during such interviews.  Joint Operations Center (JOC): A JOC is usually pre-established, often operated 24/7/365, and allows multiple agencies to have a dedicated facility for assigning staff to interface and interact with their counterparts from other agencies. Although frequently called something other than a JOC, many locations and jurisdictions have such centers, often where Federal, state, and/or local agencies (often law enforcement) meet to exchange strategic information and develop and implement tactical plans. Large mass gathering events, such as a presidential inauguration, will also utilize JOC-type facilities although they are often not identified as such or their existence even publicized.  Multiple Agency Coordination Center (MACC): The MACC is a central command and control facility responsible for the strategic, or "big picture" of a disaster. A MACC is often used when multiple incidents are occurring in one area or are particularly complex for various reasons such as when scarce resources must be allocated across multiple requests. Personnel within the MACC use Multi-Agency Coordination to

guide their operations. The MACC coordinates activities between multiple agencies and incidents and does not normally directly control field assets but makes strategic decisions and leaves tactical decisions to individual agencies. The common functions of all MACC's is to collect, gather and analyze data; make decisions that protect life and property, maintain continuity of the government or corporation, within the scope of applicable laws; and disseminate those decisions to all concerned agencies and individuals. While often like an EOC, the MACC is a separate entity with a defined area or mission and lifespan whereas an EOC is a permanently established facility and operation for a political jurisdiction or agency. EOCs often, but not always, follow the general ICS principles but may utilize other structures or management (such as an Emergency Support Function [ESF] or hybrid ESF/ICS model) schemas. For many jurisdictions the EOC is where elected officials will be located during an emergency and, like a MACC, supports but does not command an incident. 8.3 EQUIPMENT  ICS uses a standard set of equipment nomenclature. ICS equipment include:  Tanker - This is an aircraft that carries fuel (Fuel Tanker) or water (Water Tanker).  Tender - Like a tanker, but a ground vehicle, also carrying fuel (Fuel Tender), water (Water Tender), or even fire fighting foam (Foam Tender) 8.4 TYPE AND KIND  TYPE - The "type" of resource describes the size or capability of a resource. Types are designed to be categorized as "Type 1" through "Type 5" formally, but in live incidents more specific information may be used.  KIND - The "kind" of resource describes what the resource is. 8.5 COMMAND TRANSFER - A role of responsibility can be transferred during an incident for several reasons: As the incident grows a more qualified person is required to take over as Incident Commander to handle the ever-growing needs of the incident, or in reverse where as an incident reduces in size command can be passed down to a less qualified person (but still qualified to run the now-smaller incident) to free up highly qualified resources for other tasks or incidents. Other reasons to transfer command include jurisdictional change if the incident moves locations or area of responsibility, or normal turnover of personnel due to extended incidents. The transfer of command process always includes a transfer of command briefing, which may be oral, written, or a combination of both. 8.6 INCIDENT COMMAN POST - One of five predesignated temporary facilities and signifies the physical location of the tactical-level, on-scene incident command and management organization. It typically comprises the Incident Commander and immediate staff and may include other

designated incident management officials and responders from Federal, State, local, and tribal agencies, as well as private-sector, nongovernmental, and volunteer organizations. -

Typically located at or in the immediate vicinity of the incident site and is the focus for the conduct of direct, on-scene control of tactical operations. Incident planning is also conducted at the ICP; an incident communications center also would normally be established at this location. The ICP may be collocated with the incident base, if the communications requirements can be met. The ICP may perform local Emergency Operations Center-like functions in the context of smaller jurisdictions or less complex incident scenarios. It is commonly marked with a green emergency light, to be distinguished from a distance.