EMC003 Incident Command System 
To:   Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
By:   Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS), the volunteer
      communications reserve of the State of California 
      Governor's Office of Emergency Services

The Incident Command System (ICS) is an organization structure
for the management of response situations. As a SYSTEM it was
originally developed through a cooperative (local, state, and
federal) effort known as FIRESCOPE to efficiently manage any
incident or emergency to which fire protection agencies would
respond. The success led to its adoption in OTHER modalities.

The principles and habits of ICS are not really new, rather ICS
is the systemization and enhancement of what fire and law
agencies had been doing for years in various jurisdictions.

As an organization structure ICS is designed to be usable in ALL
KINDS OF EMERGENCIES, whether small day-to-day situations or very
large and complex ones. It is also readily adaptable to new
technology, and yet is simple enough to ensure low operational
maintenance costs. It is applicable and generally acceptable
throughout the country. Yet it is a stranger to many emergency
communications units. Hence the purpose of this series is to help
such units to become familiar with this system. 

This material is from a basic introductory course (ICS I-120) by
the National Inter-Agency Incident Management System (NIIMS). It
is the same Incident Command System developed by FIRESCOPE. ICS
I-120 is a self-paced course that is for those who would not
normally be expected to attend the full I-220 course developed
by NIFQS (National Inter-Agency Fire Qualification System) as 
one of a series to provide standards for qualification,
certification and training in the ICS positions. How you can
obtain a copy will be provided at the end of the series. 

Next bulletin: ICS In use

Visit ACS on the World Wide WEB at http://www.garlic.com/oes
E-mail: crm@oes.ca.gov or seh@oes.ca.gov.  Phone:916-262-1600
BBS 916-262-1657  Packet: W6SIG@WA6NWE.CA    FAX 916 262-1677
ACS c/o State OES, 2800 Meadowview Rd., Sacramento, CA. 95832
EOM EMC003                          W6WWW@KM6PX.#NOCAL.USA.NA