Crews from Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Canada, Ontario, Quebec,

[Waltons_Mtn]

21. They use the Incident Command System.

In my job we use it regularly. It was created, mostly, by the forestry service, who use it to fight the big forest fires throughout the west. The U.S. Coast Guard decided they could use it to clean up oil spills. During Katrina, everything was one big cluster until the Coast Guard Admiral came in and set up a proper ICS. Then things started to turn around. This time FEMA set up a proper ICS and things sound like they are being handled well. ICS is a great system and can be set up to handle any size situation. You just need to staff it properly, with people trained to use ICS. The Planning Section will take the reports and set up a plan to coordinate relief efforts. The Operations section will carry out that plan. The Logistics section will make sure that the right equipment gets to where it needs to be and the Finance section will keep track of all the costs.