Unified Incident Command
Sergeant Andy Gillespie
February 12, 1999
Describe the purposes and advantages of mulitjuridiction and/or multi-agency Unified Command, and how Unified Command can be applied to incident situations. It describes the Unified Command organization, how Unified Command is established, and the roles of its major elements. The module discusses a number of factors to be considered in implementing Unified Command.
Unified Command is not a new process, or one that is unique to the Incident Command System. The United States Military has used a similar concept in integrating military services in joint operations for years. In describing Unified Command, an imperfect analogy can be drawn with a United Nations multi-nation military force used to respond to global situations requiring outside intervention.
There are essentially four (4) elements to consider in applying Unified Command:
- Policies, Objectives, Strategies
In joint military operations, setting the policy, objectives, and strategy is the responsibility of the coalition of countries operating within the United Nations mandate. In ICS, this responsibility belongs to the various jurisdictional and agency administrators who set policy and are accountable to their agencies. This activity is done in advance of tactical operations, and maybe coordinated from some other location than where the direct action takes place.
- Organization
In joint military operations, the organization consists of the unified Force Command established at the scene. In ICS, the organization consists of the various jurisdictional or agency on-scene senior representatives (agency incident commanders) operating within a Unified Command structure.
- Resources
In joint military operations, resources consist of all the U.S. armed services, plus various service elements from other countries. In ICS Unified Command, resources are the personnel and equipment supplied by the jurisdictions and agencies that have functional or jurisdictional responsibility.
- Operations
In joint military operations, after the objectives, strategies and interagency agreements are decided, a single Force Commander is designated to develop tactical action plans and to direct tactical operations. In ICS Unified Command that person is the incident Operations Section Chief.
In both joint military and ICS Unified Command, resources stay under the administrative and policy control of their agency. However, operationally they respond to mission assignments under the coordination and direction of the Force Commander or Operations Section Chief on the requirements of the action plan.
While by no means a perfect analogy, it does serve to show how a unified team approach can be successfully implemented.
Unified Command represents an important element in increasing the effectiveness of multijurisdictional or multi-agency incidents. As incidents become more complex and involve more agencies, the need for Unified Command is increased.
- One set of objectives is developed for the entire incident.
- A collective approach is made to developing strategies to achieve incident goals.
- Information flow and coordination is improved between all jurisdictions and agencies involved in the incident.
- All agencies with responsibility for the incident have an understanding of one another’s priorities and restrictions.
- No agency’s authority or legal requirements will be compromised or neglected.
- Each agency is fully aware of the plans, actions and constraints of all others.
- The combined efforts of all agencies are optimized as they perform their respective assignments under a single Incident Action Plan.
- Duplicative efforts are reduced or eliminated, thus reducing cost and chances from frustration and conflict.
- Incidents that impact more than one political jurisdiction.
The classic example is a wildland fire starting in one jurisdiction and burning into the jurisdiction of one or more others. Responding agencies from each jurisdiction all have the same basic mission (fire control) and it is the political and/or geographical boundaries that mandate multi-agency cooperation and involvement.
- Incidents involving multiple agencies (or departments) within the same political jurisdiction.
Hazardous materials incidents provide an example for this kind of a situation. The fire department has responsibility for fire control and rescue, the police department has responsibility for evacuation and area security, and public health agencies and others have responsibility for site clean-up.
Major commercial airplane crashes are another example. Here, the management challenge increases.
In one geographical location, fire, law enforcement, health services, the FAA, and others all have legal responsibilities to perform their different missions at the site of the same incident.
All may be active at the same time and in the same place. It is the functional role and the legal obligation – not the geography – that brings about the multiple involvement.
- Incidents that impact on (or involve) several political and functional agencies.
These kinds of incidents occur with storms, earthquakes, and other major natural disasters, and they present the greatest incident management challenges.
In these incidents, large numbers of local, state, and federal agencies become immediately involved. These emergencies cross-political boundaries and involve multiple functional authorities. Roles, missions, and responsibilities are all intermixed.
ICS’ Unified Command approach to incidents like those just mentioned is a practical and cost-effective solution. By using Unified Command, participating agencies can improve overall incident management and achieve goals in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Under Unified Command, the various jurisdictions and/or agencies are blended together into an integrated unified team. The resulting organization may be a mixture of personnel from several jurisdictions or agencies, each performing functions as appropriate and working toward a common set of objectives.
The proper mix of participants in a Unified Command organization will depend on:
- The location of the incident, which often determines the jurisdictions that must be involved.
- The kind of incident, which dictates that functional agencies of the involved jurisdiction(s), as well as other agencies that may be involved.
In a multijurisdictional situation, a Unified Command structure could consist of one responsible official from each jurisdiction. In other cases, Unified Command may consist of several functional department managers or assigned representatives from within a single political jurisdiction.
Because of common ICS organization and terminology, personnel from other jurisdictions or agencies can be easily integrated into a single organization.
By bringing the responsible officials, Command Staffs, and planning elements together in a single Incident Command Post a coordinated effort can be maintained for a long as the Unified Command Structure is required.
One base can serve the needs of multiple agencies. Similarly, resources from several agencies can be brought together in Staging Areas.
The planning process for Unified Command is similar to that used on a single jurisdiction or agency incident.
One important distinction is the need for every jurisdictional or functional agency’s Incident Commander to get together before the first operational period planning meeting in a command meeting.
This meeting provides the responsible agency officials with an opportunity to discuss and concur on important issues prior to joint incident action planning. The agenda for the command meeting should include the following:
- State jurisdictional/agency priorities and objectives.
- Present jurisdictional limitations, concerns, and restrictions.
- Develop a collective set of incident objectives.
- Establish and agree on acceptable priorities.
- Adopt an overall strategy or strategies to accomplish objectives.
- Agree on the basic organization structure.
- Designate the best-qualified and acceptable Operations Section Chief.
- Agree on General Staff personnel designations and planning, logistical, and finance agreements and procedures.
- Agree on the resource ordering process to be followed.
- Agree on cost-sharing procedures.
- Agree on informational matters.
- Designate one agency official to act as the Unified Command spokesperson.
- The Command Meeting should include only agency Incident Commanders.
- The meeting should be brief and important points should be documented.
- Prior to the meeting, the respective responsible officials should have reviewed the purposes and agenda items described above, and are prepared to discuss them.
Incident Action Planning Meetings will use the results of the Command Meeting to decide on:
- Tactical operations for the next operational period.
- Establishing resource requirements and determining resource availability and sources.
- Making resource assignments.
- Establishing the unified Operations Section organization.
- Establishing combined planning, logistics, and finance/administration operations as needed.
The end result of the planning process will be an Incident Action Plan that addresses multijurisidictional or multi-agency priorities, and provides tactical operations and resource assignments for the unified effort.
The Unified Command incident organization can also benefit by integrated multijurisdictional and/or multi-agency personnel into various other functional areas.
For example, in Operations and Planning, Deputy Section Chiefs can be designated from an adjacent jurisdiction which may in future operational periods have the primary responsibility for these functions.
By placing other agency’s personnel in the Planning Section’s Situation, Resources, and Demobilization Units, there can be significant savings in personnel, and increased communication and information sharing.
In logistics, a deputy Logistics Section Chief from another agency or jurisdiction can help to coordinate incident support as well as facilitate resource ordering activities. Placing other agency personnel into the Communications Unit helps in developing a single incident-wide Communications Plan.
Although the Finance/Administration Section often has detailed agency specific procedures to follow, cost savings may be realized through agreements on cost sharing for essential services. For example, one agency might provide food services, another fuel, another security, etc.
An important advantage of Unified Command is advance establishment of resource ordering procedures. These decisions are made during the Command Meeting.
The Planning Meeting will determine resource requirements for all levels of the organization. However, the nature and location of the incident will, to some extent, dictate the most effective off-incident resource ordering process.
The resource requirements established at the planning meeting are given to the Logistics Section, which then creates a resource order which is transmitted to one agency’s dispatch center to be filled.
Some situations may require resource orders to be made to different agencies from the incident. Multiple resource orders are generally less desirable than the use of a single resource order, and should be avoided when possible.
If the incident is operating under Unified Command, specific kinds and types of resources to be supplied by certain jurisdictions or agencies may be pre-designated as a part of the resource order. This will depend upon the prior commitments of the responsible agency officials in the Unified Command meeting.
If this information is not known in advance, then it will be up to the individual agency dispatch center receiving the resource order to fill the order based on closest available resources.
It is essential to understand how ICS Unified Command functions. Knowledge of ICS principles and structure will enable managers to accept and easily adapt to a Unified Command mode of operation when it is required. Lack of knowledge about ICS can limit the willingness of some jurisdictions or agencies to participate in the Unified Command incident organization. It is impossible to implement Unified Command unless agencies have agreed to participate in the process.
Establish a single Incident Command Post and, as needed, other facilities where all agencies can operate together. Avoid the confusion created by separate command, planning, and logistical set-ups.
It is essential to begin joint planning as early as possible. Initiate Unified Command as soon as two or more agencies having jurisdictional or functional responsibilities come together on an incident. It is especially important on those incidents where there may be conflicting priorities based on agency responsibilities.
The Operations Section Chief will normally be from the jurisdiction or agency which has the greatest involvement in the incident, although that is not essential.
The Operational Section Chief should be the most qualified and experienced person available. The selection of the Operations Section Chief must be agreed upon by the Unified Command, as the Operations Section Chief will have full authority to implement the operations portion of the Incident Action Plan. It is also necessary to agree on other General Staff personnel who will be implementing their portions of the Incident Action Plan.
The Incident Commanders may see the need to identify one of them to act as an Operational Period Duty Officer and/or spokesperson for the Unified Command.
This can provide a designated channel of communications from General and Command Staff members into the Unified Command decisions, but does provide a point of contact as necessary for the General and Command Staffs.
Finally, it is important to conduct training exercises in using Unified Command with adjacent jurisdictions and functional agencies whenever possible.
Individually and collectively, the designated agency Incident Commanders functioning in a Unified Command have the following responsibilities at an incident:
- Ordering of additional resources in support of the Incident Action Plan.
- The possible loaning or sharing of resources to other jurisdictions.
- Agreeing to financial cost-sharing arrangements with participating agencies.
- Working closely with the other IC’s in the Unified Command.
- Providing sufficient qualified staff and resources.
- Anticipating and resolving problems.
- Delegating authority as needed.
- Inspecting and evaluating performance.
- Communicating with their own agency on priorities, plans, problems, and progress.
IV. SUMMARY: LESSONS LEARNED / KEY POINTS
The members of the Unified Command must function together as a team. They must ensure that effective coordination takes place. In many ways, this is the most important function they perform in Unified Command.
There are two distinct levels of coordination:
ATTACHMENTS
INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM "An Overview for Law Enforcement"
ÊICS Form 202, Incident Objectives, Circle City Classic, Indianapolis, Indiana, October 1998.
Organizational Chart, KKK Rally, Indianapolis, Indiana, January 1999.
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