The complexity of incident management, coupled with the growing need for multi-agency and multi functional involvement on incidents, has increased the need for a single standard incident management system that can be used by all emergency response disciplines.

ICS provides an important framework from which all can work together. In any major incident many or any local, federal, etc. agencies may become involved. The challenge is to get the various agencies to work together in the most efficient and effective manner.

The principles of the Incident Command System will enable all emergency response agencies to utilize common terminology, span of control, organizational flexibility, personnel accountability, comprehensive resource management, unified command and incident action plans.

ICS resulted from the obvious need for a new approach to the problem of managing rapidly moving wildfires in the early 1970s. At that time, emergency managers faced a number of problems.

• Too many people reporting to one supervisor.
• Different emergency response organizational structures.
• Lack of reliable incident information.
• Inadequate and incompatible communications.
• Lack of a structure for coordinated planning between agencies.
• Unclear lines of authority.
• Terminology differences betweenagencies.
• Unclear or unspecified incident objectives.

Designating a standardized emergency management system to remedy the problems listed above took several years and extensive field testing. The Incident Command System was developed by an inter-agency task force working in a cooperative local, state, and federal inter-agency effort called FIRESCOPE (Firefighting Resources of California Organized for Potential Emergencies). Early in the development process, four essential requirements became clear:

1. The system must be organizationally flexible to meet the needs of incidents of any kind and size.
2. Agencies must be able to use the system on a day-to-day basis for routine situations as well as for major emergencies.
3. The system must be sufficiently standard to allow personnel from a variety of agencies and diverse geographic locations to rapidly mold into a common management structure.
4. The system must be cost effective.

They occur with no advance notice. They develop rapidly. Unchecked, they may grow in size or complexity. Personal risk for response personnel can be high. There are often several agencies with some on-scene responsibility. They can very easily become multi-jurisdictional. They often have high public and media visibility. Risk of life and property loss can be high. Cost of response is always a major concern.

ICS is now widely used throughout the United States and Canada by fire agencies, and is increasingly used for law enforcement, other public safety applications, and for emergency and event management.