Key Personnel/Identification of Roles and Responsibilities

Planning

The Planning Section, headed by the Planning Section Chief, is responsible for the collection, evaluation, dissemination, and use of information about the development of the incident and the status of resources.

Planning must include an assessment of the present and projected situation, constantly considering contingencies (remember Murphy’s Law!). Proactive incident management depends on an accurate assessment of the incident’s potential and a prediction of likely outcomes.

In addition to assessment of the situation status, there is a critical need to maintain information about resources committed to the incident and projected resource requirements.

Responsibilities of Planning Section Chief

The Planning Section Chief is responsible for managing information about the incident status and resources, and for assisting the IC. These two major responsibilities include a number of activities. The Planning Section Chief manages information by:

• Collecting information regarding the incident and resources.
• Evaluating information received from a variety of sources.
• Disseminating information to the IC, Operations, and incident response personnel, as necessary.
• Preparing the incident action plan in conjunction with the IC and other Section Chiefs.

Also, the Planning Section Chief assists the IC in:

• Developing an effective incident action plan based on projected needs.
• Modifying the incident action plan to meet changing needs.
• Anticipating changes in resource needs.
• Preparing alternate strategies and tactical options based on incident potential.

For example, in the case of a wildfire, the Planning Section Chief could monitor weather forecasts to determine if winds will spread the fire, and examine maps of the surrounding area to determine if evacuation should be planned before the fire spreads.

Units Within the Planning Section

The Planning Section Chief may establish various Groups (in this case, “units”) under Planning, as needed.

• Situation Status Unit (SITSTAT) gathers information and analyzes the situation as it progresses.
• Resource Status Unit (RESTAT) records the status of resources, including those already committed to the incident, anticipated needs, and the projected impact of additional resources responding to the incident.
• Documentation Unit records and protects all documents relevant to the incident. Examples of incident documentation include incident reports, communication logs, injury claims, and situation status reports. In major incidents, thorough documentation is critical to post-incident analysis.
• Demobilization Unit is responsible for the development of a plan for the demobilization of the resources committed to an incident and assisting in the implementation of that plan.
• Technical specialists may be assigned anywhere in the ICS organization (such as to a Division or a Group within the Operations Section) as needed.

Technical specialists are persons with relevant special skills or knowledge that may be applied to support incident operations. Examples include bomb squad members, SWAT teams, or hostage negotiators.