ICS - Planning Function

The Planning Section simply documents everything that has happened on the incident, and projects and forecasts what will hopefully happen in the future, including the incident goals.

The Resources Unit maintains the resource status of every piece of equipment on the incident. They also provide technical specialists including archeaologists, geologists, forest/environment specialists, etc.

The Situation Unit keeps tabs on the incident itself. It is kept up to date as best as possible from the fire line reports. They provide the Public Information Officer the actual fire information. Sometimes the communications takes 8 hours to reach the public from the fire line. A fire can more than double in 8 hours.

The Documentation Unit provides the paperwork and clerical needs of the incident. Every last log entry is recorded for each incident.

Demobilization Unit specializes in cleaning up after the incident. While the fire is long out, these people are still checking engines out and just now starting to figure out what rehabilitation is needed for the environment at the incident etc.

Planning Section Chief is in charge of all paperwork and clerical portions of the incident, not including the financial needs which fall in another section.

The Resource Status is important to plan for future resource needs. What exactly can 20 engines do at a fire? Are they effective or not? Resources Unit keeps tabs on the effectivness of the resources and orders or releases units as needed.

A strike team or task force are VERY effective resources for the incident. Ordering an engine strike team means they will get 5 engines of LIKE abilities (a Task Force is a mixture of units). Those engines will provide their own transportation, communication needs, and with the strike team a leader is provided (usually a battalion chief) so the span of control isn't breached. BY ordering strike teams and task forces the resources on an incident can explode in size while still maintaining good span of control and fitting into the Incident Command System.

The situation status and fire information is in my opinion the slowest part of the incident. The GIS mapping technologies are closing this slow gap quickly though by providing close to real time maps of the incidents. Technology is allowing the infrared mapping of the incident, GPS mapping of the incident, and maps already made of the terrain and topography of the region. Putting everything together, the GIS dept provides fire info almost to the exact flame of where the fire is. There is still some hang time though as info is confirmed and structure loss is double checked before being made public. Other info such as resources at scene and weather conditions on the fire line are delayed simply due to lack of communication and resources for this job. Amateur Radio usually fills a large gap between the Situation Unit and the Public Info Officer, keeping the two in constant communication without tieing up vital frequencies for other needs.

It is important to document every last detail of the incident. If lawsuits occur years afterwards, the proper info can be brought up like it happened yesterday. The documentation also provides historical and statistical needs for the public.

An Incident Action Plan (IAP or IP for short) is created for each shift of the incident. Usually a 0600 breifing and an 1800 briefing. The IAP will be issued during these briefings to EVERYBODY involved in the incident that needs to know the current goal of the incident, current freq plan, the safety notices for the day, weather forecasts, what resources are available or committed, fire maps or maps of where all the facilities are.

Demobilization is an important process and even more so as the state tries to contain the Sudden Oak Disease from spreading. Demob is the last step the resources take to finalize all paperwork for the documentation unit and the financial section. Demob in the Sudden Oak Disease areas now include complete engine washes and all gear must be washed to prevent the spread of the disease across state. Suddenly taking loads of resources off the incident and releasing them back to available status takes a lot of coordination.