Homeland security: overview and policy considerations

¶ … Evolution of the Incident Command System (ICS)

Out of concern for the lack of a uniform protocol for emergency management, the concept of the Incident Command System (ICS) was developed in combined effort by Federal, State, and local governments during the 1970s (Dudfield, 2008, p. 31). This system was developed in response to the catastrophic wildfires that occurred during 1970 in South California by fire agencies at the federal, state, and local levels (Cardwell, 2000, p. 10). The intent of ICS is to provide an organizational structure to use to coordinate response efforts to incidents of any scope ranging from minor to large-scale incidents such as natural disasters, fires, accidents, or attacks. The original ICS system has evolved into what is known today as the National Incident Management System (NIMS) that still utilizes the tenets of ICS.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),

ICS is a standardized, on-scene, all-hazards incident management approach that

Allows for the integration of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure.

Enables a coordinated response among various jurisdictions and functional agencies, both public and private.

Establishes common processes for planning and managing resources.(FEMA)

This system can be applied to any type of incident ranging from a simple to complex incidents and is used at all government levels ranging from federal, state, and local governments to the private sector as a means of response. It employs eight basic management concepts that work together to provide a coordinated response to any emergency situation. These eight concepts are: "modular organization, unified command, manageable span-of-control, common terminology, consolidated action plans, comprehensive resource management, integrated communications, and predesignated incident facilities" (Cardwell p. 12). With its modular organization, it is used to facilitate organizational actions in five main areas: command, operations, planning, logistics, and Finance/Administration in order to maintain an organized structure to responding to emergencies.

"ICS existed for nearly 10 years before the law enforcement community began to study and embrace the concept" (Cardwell, p. 11). The concept of ICS was slow to be accepted at first by agencies outside of the fire service. Part of the hesitance may have been the misconception that this system took away control of the situation from state and local authorities' jurisdiction and gave control to the federal government where control was not needed. This; however, was not the case with ICS; it merely acted as a framework to provide a structure to use when responding to incidents and would allow for easier integration of services that may be needed in order to respond to those incidents. According to Aden Hogan, Jr. (2011), city manager of Evans Colorado when asked about his experience with the response to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, ICS provided a plan and the processes and protocols to implement that plan. "ICS doesn't dictate tactics; it brings coordination, communication, and cooperation to the folks who will be managing a response" (Hogan Jr., p. 14).

As ICS continued to spread throughout the country, it also began to spread to other countries. During the 1980s, it was adopted by Australia and New Zealand as a means of responding to emergencies after they had evaluated other systems that were also being used around the world (Dudfield, p. 31).

As is became apparent that the need for an organized system to allow for a greater response of agencies working together in light of the threat of terrorism and large scale attacks on American soil, ICS became more readily accepted by agencies outside the fire service and continued to spread to other response agencies. The possibility of wide spread attacks on the American people pushed the need for a national standard for emergency planners to adhere to in the event of an emergency situation so that all agencies involved would be on the same page following the same steps instead of using different plans for different localities, which could prove to be confusing and lead to precious response time lost.