Agenda - 10-25-2022; 7 - Emergency Preparedness – Roles, Responsibilities, and Plans

Browse Search

13 Elected Official's Guide to Emergencies and Disasters Key features of NIMS • Incident Command System (ICS): NIMS establishes ICS as a standard incident management organization with five functional areas—command, operations, planning, logistics, and finance/administration—for management of all major incidents. To ensure further coordination, during incidents involving multiple jurisdictions or agencies, the principle of unified command has been universally incorporated into NIMS. With Unified Command, Incident Commanders representing agencies or jurisdictions that share responsibility for the incident manage the response from a single Incident Command Post (ICP). This unified command not only coordinates the efforts of many jurisdictions, but also provides for and assures joint decisions. • Joint Information System (JIS) and Information Management: NIMS organizational measures enhance the public communication effort. The Joint Information System provides the public with timely and accurate incident information and unified public messages. This system employs Joint Information Centers (JIC) and brings incident communicators together during an incident to develop, coordinate, and deliver a unified message. This ensures that Federal, state, and local levels of government will release the same information during an incident. NIMS prescribes interoperable communication systems for both incident and information management. • Emergency Operations Center (EOC): The physical location at which the coordination of information and resources to support incident management (on- scene operations) activities normally takes place. An EOC may be a temporary facility or may be located in a more central or permanently established facility, perhaps at a higher level of organization within a jurisdiction. EOCs may be organized by major functional disciplines (e.g., fire, law enforcement, and medical services), by jurisdiction (e.g., Federal, State, Regional, Tribal, City, County), or some combination thereof. Orange County's primary EOC is located at 510 Meadowlands Drive, Hillsborough, NC. • Incident Action Plan (IAP): An oral or written plan containing general objectives reflecting the overall strategy for managing an incident. It may include the identification of operational resources and assignments. It may also include attachments that provide direction and important information for management of the incident during one or more operational periods. • Incident Commander (IC): The individual responsible for all incident activities, including the development of strategies and tactics and the ordering and the release of resources. The IC has overall authority and responsibility for conducting incident operations and is responsible for the management of all incident operations at the incident site. • Mutual Aid or Assistance Agreement: Written or oral agreement between and among agencies/organizations and/or jurisdictions that provides a mechanism to quickly obtain emergency assistance in the form of personnel, equipment, 101 Page