(ICS) fire the facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within an organizational structure and responsible for managing assigned resources to accomplish stated objectives pertaining to a fire incident —see national interagency incident management system —note the following ICS terms are similar to and are replacing large fire organization (LFO) terms:

—area command an organization established to oversee the management of (a) multiple incidents, each if which is being handled by an incident management team (IMT) organization, or (b) a very large incident to which multiple IMTs are assigned —note area command sets overall strategy and priorities, allocates critical resources based on priorities, and ensures that incidents are properly managed, objectives are met, and strategies are followed

—branch the organizational level with functional or geographical responsibility for major segments of fire operations —note the branch level is between section and division or group

—branch director a person under the direction of the operations section chief who is responsible for implementing that portion of the incident action plan appropriate to the branch

—command staff an information officer, safety officer, and liaison officer who report directly to the incident commander

—command team a group of personnel, including at least an incident commander, section chiefs, situation status (SITSTAT) leader, resource status (RESTAT) leader, and communications unit leader, trained and available to command an incident using the incident command system

—company any piece of fire equipment with a full complement of personnel

—division a designated unit of a complex fire organized into two to four sectors for control, usually planned so that it can be personally and completely inspected by the division boss twice per shift —note 1. divisions are established when resources exceed the span of control of the operations section chief, and normally divide an incident into geographical areas of operation —note 2. the division level is between the strike team and the branch

—division or group supervisor a person responsible to the operations section chief or (when activated) the branch director, for implementing that portion of the incident action plan assigned to the division or group, allocating resources within the division or group, and reporting on the progress of control operations and the status of resources

—finance section chief a person responsible to the incident commander for all financial and cost-analysis aspects of the incident and for supervising members of the finance section

—general staff a group of incident management personnel consisting of finance section chief, incident commander, logistics section chief, operations section chief, and planning section chief

—group an organizational unit established to divide an incident into functional areas of operation and composed of resources assembled to perform a special function not within a single division

—incident commander an individual responsible for managing all incident operations —synonym fire boss in the LFO system

—incident overhead all supervisory positions described in the incident command system

—logistics section chief a person responsible to the incident commander for providing facilities, services, and material in support of an incident

—manager an individual within ICS organizational units assigned specific managerial responsibilities, e.g., staging area manager or camp manager

—operations section chief a person responsible to the incident commander for managing all operations directly applicable to an incident's primary mission

—planning section chief a person responsible to the incident commander for collecting, evaluating, disseminating, and using information about the development of an incident and the status of resources; supervising all members of the planning section; and finalizing the incident action plan

—safety officer a member of the command staff responsible to the incident commander for monitoring and assessing hazardous and unsafe conditions and developing measures for assessing personnel safety on an incident

—section an organizational unit having functional responsibility for primary segments of incident operations such as operations, planning, logistics, and finance —note the section level is between the branch and the incident commander

—strike team a specified combination of the same kind and type of resources, sharing communication and a leader

—task force any combination of resources that shares communication and a leader

—unified command an authority exercised by all agencies or individuals who have jurisdictional responsibility, and in some cases those who have functional responsibility at the incident, to contribute jointly to (a) determining overall objectives for the incident, and (b) selection of a strategy to achieve objectives

—unit the organizational element of an incident, having functional responsibility for a specific activity in the planning, logistics, or finance section This definition last updated 10/29/2008