Incident Command System
Describe how the principles of incident command were used based on a real-life situation that you were involved in
As a teenager, I went through one of the most traumatizing events in my life. It was on Valentine’s night, and my parents had dinner reservations, and so they left at around eight, leaving me home alone. A few hours after they left, there was a loud blast downstairs, and when I went to check I was met by a huge inferno that was raging through the living and quickly closing on the corridor, and I could not access the front door. I immediately rushed back to my room to contact the authorities and my parents to inform them of what was happening. Within a couple of minutes, I could see the Local Police, and the fire department on site from my bedroom window as they were working on containing the fire, stranded as my only way out was up in flames. The fire had burnt down the better half of the apartment, and it was threatening to take down as well. Luckily, the firefighters assembled their cranes, and I was rescued without any severe burns. After several hours of battling with the fire, the fire department was able to put it off.
Dealing with a fire outbreak, like in my childhood experience requires inter-departmental collaboration between the fire department, the local security forces and the local health care institution. Multidisciplinary response to emergencies is one of the principles of the Incident Command System (ICS) (Jensen & Thompson, 2016). Coming to think of the ordeal, I credit the multidisciplinary approach to dealing with the fire for being one of the reasons I came out of my house alive. The firefighters did their best to deal with the fire then the local Emergency medical services took over and treated me of the symptoms that I was portraying from inhaling the smoke.
The other principle of ICS that played out well in the ordeal was ensuring the least possible disruption on existing systems and processes (Jensen & Thompson, 2016). While the smoke from fires of such magnitude is bound to cause significant damage to the environment through air pollution, the fire department ensured that the damage was limited within the building floor that my house was on. Additionally, the current design of the firefighting machinery ensures that it causes minimum damage to the natural environment.
The final principle of incident command that was effectively used in the incident and which ensured the operation was a success was its user-friendliness and the applicability of the systems in a broad spectrum of fields (Jensen & Thompson, 2016). Incident Command Systems are designed for use in a wide range of areas, including the fire department. Therefore, the terminology and technology that these systems use should be uniform to ensure their application in the varied fields as need be. As the medical personnel was attending to me in an ambulance that was parked close to the operations command centre, I could hear the controller give directions to the different team players, who were from various departments. The terminologies in the orders were uniform and understandable to all the team players. I believe this contributed hugely to the success of the operation (Jensen & Thompson, 2016).
Were the principles of the incident command used successfully?
The measure of the success of an operation is in the level that the operation achieves the set objectives. The main goals of the Incident Command Systems include ensuring the establishment of clear communication channels, ensuring accountability, ensuring that the available resources are used efficiently and also coming up with mission objectives (Bigley & Roberts, 2018). Based on my assessment of the situation, I believe that the operation achieved all the goals of the ICS.
The first principle, working with a multidisciplinary team, was the primary reason behind the success of the operation. The individuals in the team brought on board their different skillsets. These skills ensured that the problem was confronted from different perspectives; therefore, there was no way it would have failed. Additionally, minimum disruption to the existing systems was experienced while the team was dealing with the situation. The tanks used to fight the fire have in-built water reservoirs. This ensures that the firefighters do not cut off the area water supply to redirect it towards fighting the fire (Bigley & Roberts, 2018). Finally, the ease with which the Command controller used the ICS indicates the user-friendliness that characterizes the modern-day ICS. Therefore, in conclusion, the principles of incident command as were hugely successful as used in the situation
References
Bigley, G. A., & Roberts, K. H. (2018). The incident command system: High-reliability organizing for complex and volatile task environments. Academy of Management Journal, 44(6), 1281-1299.
Jensen, J., & Thompson, S. (2016). The incident command system: a literature review. Disasters, 40(1), 158-182.