Incident Management Systems: Origins, Development, and Applications

Origins of the Incident Management System

In 1970, from September 26th through October 4th, California experienced the second-largest fire in its history. The wildfires started in eastern San Diego County and burned toward the coastline, consuming 175,000 acres of land, destroying 382 homes, and taking the lives of sixteen people (Nix, 2004). These fires exposed significant problems in coordination and communication between different responding agencies, resulting in less efficient operations. Issues included supervisors being overwhelmed by the number of subordinates, each emergency agency operating under its own structure, unreliable incident information, poor communication, inadequate inter-agency coordination, unclear lines of authority, terminology conflicts, and ambiguous objectives (NWCG, 2011).

Following the fires, the events were analyzed and a report was sent to Congress. According to one source, "Congress mandated that a system be created to address the issues that occurred, and the result was FIRESCOPE (Firefighting Resources of California Organized for Potential Emergencies) ICS, developed by the U.S. Forestry Service, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, and several local and county fire departments" (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, & Yeletaysi, 2009, p. 418). As FIRESCOPE developed this system, four key principles emerged: the system must be organizationally flexible to meet the needs of incidents of any kind and size; agencies must be able to use the system for routine situations as well as major emergencies; the system must be sufficiently standard to allow personnel from diverse agencies and geographic locations to rapidly integrate into a common management structure; and the system must be cost-effective (NWCG, 2011).

The result of this analysis was the creation of the Incident Management System (IMS). Although originally developed for wildfire response, it became evident that IMS could be applied to other incidents with similar characteristics, such as law enforcement and hazardous material incidents. The defining characteristics shared across these incident types include occurring with no advance warning, expanding rapidly, potentially worsening if unattended, requiring response by multiple agencies, encompassing several jurisdictions, posing high risks to first responders, generating rapid public awareness, and consuming considerable resources (NWCG, 2011).

To remain effective, the Incident Management System was organized into five major systems: command, operations, planning, logistics, and finance. Each system has its own commander, who reports to the incident commander. This hierarchical structure enables clear delegation of responsibilities and efficient resource allocation across the scope of the incident.

Evolution to the National Level

Since its development, the Incident Management System became the primary framework for incident response by numerous organizations. These include the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Coast Guard, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG), and many local and state agencies. A second major event in U.S. history prompted the system's advancement: the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the largest international terrorist attack on American soil. Following these attacks, President George W. Bush directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a command system for the national level. In 2004, Secretary Tom Ridge responded with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) (Infractical, 2011).

FEMA formally defined the national framework as follows: "The National Incident Management System (NIMS) provides a systematic, proactive approach to guide departments and agencies at all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work seamlessly to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity, in order to reduce the loss of life and property and harm to the environment" (FEMA, 2011).

Applications in Field Operations

NIMS relies on several key components to function effectively: the Incident Command System, communications and information management, preparedness, Joint Information System, and the NIMS Integration system (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, & Yeletaysi, 2009). The development of an Incident Management System at the national level demonstrated the critical importance of having a well-structured system that facilitates coordination and efficiently allocates resources during any emergency. This advancement opened the door to expanded usage of the Incident Management System by responders from law enforcement agencies and its application in varied field environments.

Several incident management systems are used when managing an emergency. As one source notes, "The three most commonly used systems are the Incident Command System (ICS), Incident Management System (IMS), and Firescope" (Hawley, 2004, p. 127). Although initially intended for fire responders, these systems can be readily applied to any incident. Regardless of incident type, their main purpose is to manage resources at the site. The first priority of all these systems is "to enable the incident commander to manage the incident effectively" (Hawley, 2004, p. 127). While the systems are very similar, the most noticeable difference lies in their use of different terminology. The focal point of each system is compartmentalizing the incident into manageable units. This is achieved by having officers who supervise smaller groups, ideally of four to six individuals, who report up through a clear chain of command.

In law enforcement, the Incident Command System is perhaps the most commonly used framework. When considering the roles that law enforcement agencies play within a community, it is easy to overlook how these same roles could be carried out during major events such as a chemical spill or terrorist attack. Law enforcement officers are often the first to arrive at a scene without having complete information or access to fire or emergency medical services resources. Once on scene, they may lack the required personal protective equipment for their safety. However, "the creation and implementation of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) is intended to provide a consistent nationwide approach for federal, state, and local governments to work effectively and efficiently together to prepare for, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents, regardless of cause, size, or complexity" (Herron, 2004). This allows all responders, including law enforcement, to share a common operational picture and overall goal, enabling more resourceful and successful responses.

The Incident Management System also enables agreements for assistance from multiple agencies across jurisdictions. This plays a vital role in law enforcement operations, particularly because FEMA "defined and described the equipment and personnel makeup for varying levels of bomb and explosives squads, observation aircraft (fixed wing and helicopter), mobile field force teams, and special weapons and tactical (SWAT) teams" (Herron, 2004). These groups are known as "typings" and are designed to provide aid through multi-agency coordination across different jurisdictions, ensuring that agencies receive requested resources from partner organizations.