Rogue Valley Fire Prevention

Incident Command Systems: Chain of Command

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Incident Commander:

On most incidents, there will be a single Incident Commander (IC) who is the decision-making final authority. 

In larger incidents involving multiple agencies, there may be a Unified Command made of spokespeople from each agency.  The Unified Command still acts as a single entity, however. 

During multiple-incident situations, an Area Command may be established to provide for Incident Commanders at separate locations. 

Command Staff:

This includes the fire safety officer, public information officer, and a liaison officer.

·       The Public Safety Officer monitors safety conditions and develops measures for assuring the safety of all assigned personnel.

·       The Public Information Officer serves as a conduit for information to internal and external stakeholders, including the media.

·       The Liaison Officer serves as a primary contact for supporting agencies assisting at an incident.

General Staff:

This includes the operations section chief, planning section chief, finance/administration chief, and logistics section chief.

  • The Operations Section Chief is tasked with directing all actions to meet the incident objectives.
  • The Planning Section Chief is tasked with the collection and display of incident information, primarily consisting of the status of all resources and overall status of the incident.
  • The Finance/Administration Section Chief is tasked with tracking incident related costs, personnel records, requisitions, and administrating procurement contracts required by logistics.
  • The Logistics Section Chief is tasked with providing all resources, services, and support required by the incident.

The chain of command continues on to lower levels of responsibility from each of the branches of the general staff.  In a fire situation, for example, the chain of command from Operations Section Chief down is as follows:

Operations Section Chiefà Staging Area Managerà (At this point there is another fork in the chain of command covering air operations—we won’t go into that here…)

àOperations Branch Directorà Division SupervisoràSector Leaderà Strike Team LeaderàCrew LeaderàSquad Bossà and finally, the Individual Crew Member

From the ground level up to the Operations Section Chief, all actions must be aimed at meeting incident objectives.  Each supervisory position above the standard firefighter is responsible for making sure everyone directly subordinate to them is working toward that goal.