History of the Incident Command System (ICS)

The Incident Command System (ICS) was developed in the 1970s following a series of catastrophic fires in California. Property damage ran into the millions of dollars, and many people died or were injured. Experts who analyzed the California fire response and other incidents, determined that problems could rarely be attributed to lack of resources or failure of tactics.

What were the lessons learned?

Surprisingly, studies found that response problems were far more likely to result from inadequate management than from any other single reason. Weaknesses in incident management were often due to:

* Lack of accountability, including unclear chains of command and supervision.

* Poor communication, due to both inefficient uses of available communications systems and conflicting codes and terminology.

* Lack of an orderly, systematic planning process.

* No common, flexible, predesigned management structure that enables commanders to delegate responsibilities and manage workloads efficiently.

* No predefined methods to integrate interagency requirements into the management structure and planning process effectively.

A poorly managed incident response in a school setting would be devastating. With so much at stake, we must be able to effectively manage our response efforts.

The Incident Command System, or ICS, allows us to manage school incidents and interface with trained responders.

ICS works. It saves lives.