COMMAND

The authority for an agency to direct the actions of its own resources (both personnel and equipment).

COMMAND LINE

The line or chain of command at an incident.  The ICS relies upon a single unified command line.  With the exception or urgent safety related issues officers should not take control of operations outside their assigned responsibility and should ensure all information and instruction is passed via the relevant command line officers.

COMMAND POINT

Point from which Incident Commander operates, this may be a car, appliance, specialist unit or part of a building.

COMMAND SUPPORT

Command Support is a role undertaken by one or more staff at an incident.  The role typically provides recording, liaison, detailed resource management and information gathering for the Incident Commander.  At large incidents Command Support may comprise a dedicated team working from a mobile command unit and may include individuals tasked with supporting Sector Commanders.

COMMAND TEAM

The ICS relies on shared responsibility and authority.  While the Incident Commander retains overall responsibility for the incident, and dictates the overall tactical plan, the decision making for, and control of, local operations is kept as close as possible to those operations.

This is achieved by the creation of a single command line from the crew commander to the Incident Commander.  This command line, together with staff tasked with supporting commanders, is the Command Team.  For ICS purposes the Command Team is usually taken to be the Incident Commander, Operations Commander(s) and Sector Commanders, together with Command Support staff.

CONTACT POINT

A designated point (usually an appliance not involved in operations or an officer’s car) from which a nominated Junior Officer or Firefighter will carry out the Command Support function at a small to medium size incident.

CONTROL

The authority to direct strategic and tactical operations in order to complete an assigned function and includes the ability to direct the activities of other agencies engaged in the completion of that function.  The control of an assigned function also carries with it a responsibility for the health and safety of those involved.

CREW COMMANDER

An officer or firefighter  tasked with supervising specific tasks or meeting specific objectives utilising one or more firefighters.

DYNAMIC RISK ASSESSMENT

The continuous assessment of risk in the rapidly changing circumstances of an operational incident, in order to implement the control measures necessary to ensure an acceptable level of safety.  Dynamic Risk Assessment is only appropriate during the time critical phase of an incident which is usually typical of the arrival and escalation phase of an incident.  At the earliest opportunity the Dynamic Risk Assessment should be supported by a more analytical risk assessment.

FORWARD COMMAND POST

Point, near the scene of operations, where the officer delegated responsibility for command in that area is sited.

HIGH RISE

Incidents are normally sectored on a floor by floor basis, using floor numbers.

INCIDENT COMMANDER

The officer having overall responsibility for dictating tactics and resource management.  Overall responsibility for a fire remains with the senior fire brigade officer present under the Fire Services Act Section 30(3), but subject to this a more junior officer may retain the role of Incident Commander.

INNER CORDON

A secured area which surrounds the immediate site of the incident and provides security for it.  Such an area will typically have some formal means of access control.

MARSHALLING AREA

Area to which resources not immediately required at the scene or being held for future use can be directed to standby.

OPERATIONS COMMANDER

An officer tasked with co-ordinating the operations of several sectors.  Responsible directly to the Incident Commander.  When an Operations Commander is assigned, operational Sector Commanders will report to the Operations Commander rather than the Incident Commander.  Assigning an Operations Commander at an incident which has several operational sectors keeps the span of control of the Incident commander to be maintained at a satisfactory level.

A newly arriving senior officer mobilised to take command of the incident may elect to assign the current Incident Commander as Operations Commander in order to make best use of that officers knowledge.  The demands on the Command Team at incidents attracting less than, say, eight operational pumps are unlikely to warrant the creation of an Operations Commander.  It may be more effective to appoint the previous Incident Commander as assistant.

OUTER CORDON

An area which surrounds the inner cordon and seals off a wider area of the incident from the public.

RENDEZVOUS POINT

Point to which all resources at the scene are directed for logging, briefing and deployment.

RISK ASSESSMENT (ANALYTICAL)

A detailed assessment of risks to crews, the public and the environment, based upon as much information as possible.  The analytical process should be undertaken as soon as resources permit.  Because of the significant amount of time and work involved in carrying out the assessment it may be undertaken by a supporting member of the Command Team rather than a member of the command line.

The process is a continuing one so that reviews are completed at appropriate intervals.  Note:  Unexpected or rapidly developing events may require continued dynamic assessment.

SAFETY

A state where exposure to hazards has bee controlled to an unacceptable level.

SAFETY OFFICER

Officer delegated specific responsibility for monitoring operations and ensuring safety of personnel working on the incident ground or a designated section of it.

SAFE SYSTEMS OF WORK

A formal procedure which results from systematic examination of a task in order to identify all the hazards and risks posed.  It defines safe methods to ensure that hazards are eliminated or risks controlled as far as possible.

SECTOR

A sector is the area of responsibility of a Sector Commander (ie a sector should not be created unless someone is given the responsibility for running it.)  Sectors should be created to allow effective delegation of command responsibility and authority when an incident is too complex, or too wide spread, to be managed by a single individual.

Boundaries between geographic sectors may be geographic features, walls, roads, differences in elevation or separate areas of plant.  Ideally, the boundary should be intuitively obvious.

Sector size should be dictated by the ability of the Sector Commander to exercise effective control over activities within the sector.  If a sector becomes too large or the operations within it too complex for a single person to manage, it should be split into two or more sectors, each with a Sector Commander.

Operational sectors are those dealing directly with the incident, typically operational sectors will undertake fire fighting, rescue, cooling and so on.  Operational sectors tend to place greater demands on the Sector Commander and demand a smaller span of control than support sectors.

Operational Sectors are usually identified by numbers.

Support sectors are those not dealing with the incident Support sectors are usually defined by the function they undertake, for instance decontamination, foam supply, marshalling or water supply.  They must be less dynamic than operational sectors, in which case they may be managed with a greater span of control.

SECTOR COMMANDER

An officer tasked with responsibility for tactical and safety management of a clearly identified part of an incident.  Subject to objectives set by the Incident Commander the Sector Commander has control of all operations within the sector, and must remain within it.

The Sector Commander is responsible for all aspects of safety within the sector and may assign safety officers as appropriate.  All communications between the sector and other sectors, or other members of the Command Team must go via the Sector Commander.  Where appropriate command support may be utilised by the Sector Commander.

SPAN OF CONTROL

The number of people who must have an officer’s attention for briefing, reporting, passing instructions or other incident management concerns, in order to carry out their role at the incident.

As a guide five such reporting lines are considered the usual maximum for an Incident Commander to maintain during an incident.  This may be increased at an incident which is well in hand or have to be reduced to two or three at a rapidly escalating or highly complex incident.  Management of the Span of Control must be effective throughout the command line.

Span of Control concerns are most relevant in circumstances where there are frequent or high volume communications rather than sporadic one-off contacts.  A stream of such one-off contacts from many different individuals can be as demanding, or even more so, than continuous contact with a single individual.  This should be anticipated and managed appropriately.

Plans formulated by a Brigade to deal with incidents occurring in its area.  The application of the strategy to the incident, after the initial assessment, in order to plan and direct the incident.

TACTICS

The deployment of personnel and equipment on the incident ground to achieve the aims of the strategic plan.

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Last revised date 21 May 2008