ICS 300 Review Questions

Reason to designate a Public Information Officer include (5)

1. The presence of an obvious high visibility or sensitive incident 2. Media demands for information are reducing IC effectiveness 3. Media capabilities to acquire their own information are increasing 4. Reduces the risk of multiple sources releasing information 5. Need to alert, warn or instruct the public.

Care must be taking to ensure that information transfer is handled effectively there are essentially two principles to be followed:

1. There is complete freedom within t he organization to exchange information among and between personnel 2. Orders, directives, resources request , status changes must follow the chain of command, unless otherwise directed

The six general guidelines for the use of Unified command

1. To understand ICS unified command 2. is to collocate essential functions 3. is to implement unified command at an early stage of a multi-jurisdictional or multi-agency incident. 4. is to concur on an operations section chief and other command and general staff members 5. Is to designate one of the incident commanders to be a spokesperson 6. is to train often as a team

The Intelligence function my be organized in one of the following ways (3 of them)

1. Within Command Staff 2. As unit within the Planning Section 3. As a Branch within the Operations Section 4. As a separate General Staff Section

When considering how to stabilize the incident situation the incident commander must: (3 things)

1. ensure life safety 2. ensure continuity of command 3. manage resources efficiently and cost effectively

Safety officer many assign _____________ safety Officers as needed.

Assistant

Regardless of how it is organized, the information and intelligence function is also responsible for?

Developing, conduction and managing information-related security plans and operations as direct by the incident commander.

Safety officer works through the chain of command but may exercise emergency authority to ____________ ___________ unsafe acts.

Directly Stop

Division/Group

Division are used to divide an incident geographically. Groups are used to divide an incident functionally.

Poorly managed incident response can be devastating to our?

Economy, to our food supply and to our health and safety.

IC's immediate priorities is

First priority is always the safety of people involved in the incident, responders, other emergency workers and bystanders Second priority is incident stabilization

A branch is the organizational level having ________ or __________ responsibility for major parts of the Operations section or logistics section

Geographic/functional

Incidents that are multi-jurisdictional, or have several agencies involved may require the establishment of the __________ Officer

Liaison

Branch directors and staging managers report to the ____________ section Cheif

Operations

The use of aircraft whether tactical or logistical are assigned to the ___________________ Section

Operations

Staging area managers report to _____________ section cheif or to the ________ __________ if the _________ section chief positions has not been filled

Operations/Incident Commander/Operations

Resources

Personnel and equipment available, or potentially available, for assignment to incidents. Resources are described by kind of type and may be used in tactical, support or overhead capacities at an incident.

Traditionally, Information and intelligence functions are located in the _______________ Section

Planning

Branch

The organizational level having functional or geographic responsibility for major parts of the operation of logistic functions.

Section

The organizational level with responsibilities for a major functional area of the incident Operations Planning Logistic finance/administration

ICS team members work within the ICS position regardless of their non-emergency position or everyday administrative chain of command.

True

General staff functions include subdivisions called _____ supervised by ______ Leaders

Unit/Unit

Within ICS, there is complete _________ of __________, meaning that each position and each person within the system has only one designated supervisor.

Unity/Command

Functional Delegation A Basic ICS operating guideline is that the person at the top of the organization is responsible for a task until that responsibility is _______________ to a subordinate position.

delegated

Chain of command is used to communicate ________ and maintain ___________________ __________________

direction management control

IC major responsibilities The first responsibility is to _________ _______ priorities

establish immediate

Divisions have ________ responsibility and groups have __________ responsibility

geographic/functional

Although order must flow through the chain of command, members of the organization _____ directly communicate with each other to ask for or share information's

may

Deputies must be equally capable of assuming the ________ role

primary

The operations section Chief is responsible for managing all ________________ operations at an incident

tactical

Divisions and groups are an equal level in the organization and the the supervisors report to ______________ Directors or the _______________ Section Chief

Branch/Operations

In the operation section, __________ are establish when the number of Divisions or groups exceed the span of control

Branches

Directors are in charge of ___________ Mangers are in charge of __________ Supervisors are in charge of ________ or ________

Branches Staging areas Divisions/Groups

Another organizational option for the operations section is the establishment of an __________ and ____________

Information/Intelligence

Officer

Officer is the ICS title for the personnel responsible for the Command Staff positions of Safety, Liaison and Public information.

Command Staff

The command staff consists of the PIO, Safety officer and liaison officer. They report directly to the incident command. They may have an assistant or assistants as needed.

The other four management functions in General Staff are?

Operations Section Planning Section Logistics Section Finance/Administration Section

Resource tracking responsibilities are shared between

Planning Section and Operations Section

Which officers my have assistants

Public Information officer Safety Officer Liaison Officer

On smaller incidents, where only one jurisdiction or agency is primary involved, the resource ordering is normally prepared at the incident ,, approved by the incident commander and transmitted from the incident to the jurisdiction or agency ordering point.

Single-point of resource ordering

Leader

The ICS title for an individual responsible for a task force, Strike team, or functional unit

Director

The ICS title for individual responsible for supervision of a branch

Supervisor

The ICS title for individuals responsible for a Division or group

Chief

The ICS title for individuals responsible for functional sections: Operations, Planning, Logistics and Finance/Administration

Elements to be consider in Applying unified command There are four basic elements to consider in applying unified command in ICS:

1. Policy, Objectives, and Strategy 2. Organization 3. Resources 4. Operations

The ICS organizational chart is a graphic representation of the incident, including: what five things?

1. Position and functional activated 2. Chain of command 3. Reporting relationships 4. Responsibilities delegated 5. Information flow

The first component of the operations section is ground or surface resources which consist of (3)

1. Single resources 2. Task Forces 3. Strike Teams

The ICS organizational framework is open for individual to freely supply and exchange information three examples would be

1. The food unit leader may directly contact the planning sections resources unit to determine the number of persons requiring feeding 2. The Cost unit leader may directly discuss and share financial information on alternative strategies with the planning section chief. 3. Division A supervisor may contact the Situation Unit to share information on an unusual environmental hazard in the division.

Basic principles of resource management are

1. Planning 2. Organizing 3. Supervising

The Incident Command System (ICS) is?

Standardized, on-scene, all-risk, incident management concept. ICS is the result of decades of lessons learned in the organization and management of emergency incidents.

The Organizational element having functional responsibility for a specific incident planning, logistics or finance/administration activities

Unit

The incident commanders responsibility is the overall ___________ of the incident

management

IC may have one or more ________________.

Deputies

The four step approach to determining incident objectives and strategy are?

Step 1 Know Agency Policy Step 2 Establish incident objectives Step 3 Develop appropriate strategy Step 4 Execute Tactical Direction

A Specified combination of the same kind of type or resources with common communications and a leader is a _______________

Strike team

___________ is the process of direction and controlling the efforts of resources toward the attainment of specified incident objectives

Supervising

ISC established lines of ______________ authority and ___________ reporting relationships

Supervisory/Formal

An agency which supports the incident or supplies assistance other than _______________ resources would be considered a ______________________ agency

Tactical/ cooperating

An agency that is assisting on an incident is directly contributing ___________ resource to the agency or jurisdiction that is responsible for the incident is called _________ __________________

Tactical/Assisting Agency

General Staff

The group of incident management personnel reporting to the incident commander. They may have one or more deputies as needed. The General staff consist of the Operations section chief, Planning section Chief, Logistics section chief and finance/administration section chief.

Incident Commander

The individual responsible for overall management of the incident

Reasons for transferring command

1. A more qualified person is available to assume command 2. A jurisdiction or agency is legally required to take command 3. The incident complexity changes 4. There is turnover of personnel on long or extended incidents 5. Personnel are called home for any reason 6. Agency administrators direct a change in command 7. Changing command makes good sense

IC's overall responsibilities List the overall responsibilities there are 15 of them.

1. Assess situation and or obtain a briefing from the pervious IC 2. Receive delegation of authority form agency administrator 3. Establish immediate priorities 4. Determine incident objectives and strategies 5. Establish an ICP 6. Establish and monitor incident organization 7. Ensure adequate safety measures are in place 8. Schedule planning meetings as required 9. Approve and authorize incident action plan implementation 10. Coordinate activity for all command and General Staff 11. Coordinate with key off-indent personnel 12. Approve request for additional resources or release of resources 13. Keep agency administrator informed of incident status 14. Authorize release of information to news media 15. Order the demobilization of incident when appropriate

Characteristics of an effective incident Commander are

1. Command Presence 2. Understands ICS 3. Proven Manager 4. Proactive and Decisive 5. Calm and Objective 6. Quick thinking 7. Effective communicator 8. Adaptable and flexible 9. Realistic about personal limitations 10. Politically astute

Orders and directive within the ICS organization must follow the chain of command, unless otherwise directed. Three examples illustrating the flow of orders are

1. Division B supervisor request fuel for resource within the Division. This request will be passed through the branch or operations section chief to ensure that fuel request can be consolidated before going to logistics. 2. In an organization using branches and divisions, the operations section chief will pass directives to change the resource assignments within a particular division through the appropriate branch director. This ensures that the branch director is aware of any changes. 3. The situation unit leader will request additional personnel to work in the unit through the planning section chief. This ensures that personnel already assigned to the planning section will be used if available.

Operations section consist of the following 3 components

1. Ground or surface-based tactical resources 2. aviation or air resources 3. staging areas

ICS is built around five major functions that may be applied on any incident whether it is large or small. The five major management functions are

1. Incident Command IC 2. Operations Section 3. Planning Section 4. Logistics Section 5. Finance/Administration Section

Kinds of unified command applications (4)

1. Involved an incident that impacted more than one jurisdiction 2. involved an incident that impacted multiple agencies or departments within the same jurisdiction 3. Involves an incident that impacted several jurisdictions and functional agencies (natural disasters, major aircraft crash, etc) 4. involves an incident that impacted different levels of government, for example local, state, and federal agricultural agencies

Designers of the system recognized early that ICS must be interdisciplinary and organizationally flexible to meet the following management challenges

1. Meet the needs of the incidents of any kind or size 2. Be usable for routine events or complex emergencies incidents 3. allow personnel from a variety of agencies to meld rapidly into a common management structure. 4. provided logistical and administrative support to ensure that operational staff can meet incident objectives. 5. Be cost effective by avoiding duplication of efforts

Common responsibilities to a unit

1. Obtaining beefing from the section chief 2. Participating in incident planning meetings as required 3. determining current status of unit activities 4. Confirming dispatch and estimated time of arrival of staff and supplies 5. Assigning specific duties to staff; supervise staff 6. Developing and implementing accountability, safety, and security measures for personnel and resources 7. Supervising demobilization of Inits, including storage of supplies 8. providing supply units leaser with a list of supplies to be replenished 9. Maintaining unit records, including unit log

Advantages of Using Unified Command

1. One set of objectives is developed for the entire incident 2. A collective approach is made to developing strategies to achieve incident objectives 3. Information flow and coordination is improved among all jurisdictions and agencies involved in the incident 4. All agencies with responsibility for the incident have an understanding of one another's priorities and restrictions 5. No agency's authority or legal requirements are compromised or neglected 6. Each agency is fully award of the plans actions and constraints of all others on the incident 7. The combined effort of all agencies are optimized as they perform heir respective assignments under a single incident actions plan. 8. duplicative efforts are reduce or eliminated, thus reducing cost and chances for frustrations and conflict

There are two basic approaches to using ICS

1. Planning for a known event 2. Reacting to an unplanned incident

Depending on the need tactical resources can be placed into an operations organization made up of (4 things)

1. Resources, which report directly to the incident commander or operations section chief 2. Divisions, which are used to divide an incident geographically 3. Groups, which are used to describe functional areas of operations 4. Branches , which can be either geographical or functional and are used in operations when the number of division or groups exceed the span of control

Key Resource management considerations are (5)

1. Safety 2. Personnel accountability 3. Managerial control 4. Adequate reserves 5. Cost

___________ of _________ means that there is an orderly line of authority and reporting relationships within the ranks of the organization, with lower levels subordinates to, and connected to, higher levels

Chain/Command

Each General Staff members may also have one or more _______________.

Deputies

Deputy Incident Commander must be able to assume the ____________ _____________ role.

Incident commander's

Command Staff is made up of

Public Information officer Safety Officer Liaison Officer Information and Intelligence Officer

Only one __________ officer will be assigned for each incident.

Safety