Setting Up an Incident Management Team

For Type 3 all-hazards IMTs, wildland teams, regional IMTs and large-event command teams that stand up an ICS organisation for days or weeks, often on someone else's incident. The emphasis is on command boards, ICS forms as records, deployments and the Incident Command app.

1 — Department settings and types

Item	Value
Modules	Records, Documents, Calendar, Checklists, Inventory on; Shifts on for operational periods.
Unit types	Overhead team, Crew, Engine (if you bring apparatus), Vehicle, Trailer.
Call types	Incident (assigned), Planned event, Exercise, Standby, Mutual aid.
Call priorities	Immediate need, Standard, Planned.
Certification types	Every ICS position qualification (ICT3, OSC3, PSC3, LSC3, FSC3, SOF3, PIO3, DIVS, STEN …), red card, medical, driving.

2 — Groups and roles

• Organisational groups per section: Command, Operations, Planning, Logistics, Finance/Admin.
• Roles = ICS positions and trainee flags: IC, Deputy IC, Safety officer, PIO, Liaison, Operations section chief, Division/group supervisor, Planning section chief, Resources unit leader, Situation unit leader, Logistics section chief, Supply/Facilities/Ground support/Comms unit leaders, Finance section chief, Time/Cost/Comp-claims unit leaders, Trainee.
• Custom statuses: personnel — Available for assignment · Assigned · En route to incident · Checked in · Demobilised · Unavailable.

3 — Command definitions

Department → Commands — build your standard ICS organisation as a command definition (template) with sections, branches, divisions and single resources so the Incident Command app can instantiate it on a call and assign people to positions. Keep variants: Type 3 wildland, Type 3 all-hazards, Planned event.

4 — Deployments and calls

• Each assignment is a call (type Incident) with the incident name; dispatching to roles staffs the team.
• Track the resource order that brought you there in Records → Deployments (order number, requesting/receiving agency, fills per member, snapshots of the order document). Add a connector if your ordering system serves the Mutual-Aid Order Feed.
• Command app: the IC and section chiefs run command boards, accountability and the Command chat channel.

5 — Records: ICS forms

Create definitions from the Incident Support (ICS Logistics, Finance and Administration) pack and number them per incident:

Planning cycle	Forms
Objectives and organisation	ICS 202, 203, 204, 207
Communications and medical	ICS 205, 205A, 206
Safety	ICS 208, 215A
Status	ICS 209, 210, 211, 219, 221
Resources and logistics	ICS 213, 213RR, 215, 217A, 218, 220, 260
Time and cost	ICS 214, 225, OF-286, OF-288, OF-294, OF-296, OF-297, OF-315, SF-261

Use Review required for the IAP forms (planning section chief reviews), Quick entry for ICS 214 activity logs (every member, one per operational period). Compile the IAP package as a packet from the records queue. Use the Exercise / AAR pack after each assignment.

6 — Readiness

• Checklists: Go-kit (Personnel, monthly), Team cache (Group, quarterly), Vehicle pre-trip (Unit).
• Inventory: cache trailer as a facility with containers; radios, laptops, printers, sat phones as serialized assets issued per deployment; consumables as bulk.
• Trainings and certifications for position task books; calendar for team meetings and exercises; messages with responses for availability polls before each assignment.

7 — Communication

• Chat: Command channel (IC + role holders), incident channel, section channels.
• Workflows: Call created (Incident) → email the team roster and post to the team Slack; Record finalized (ICS 209) → email the agency administrator.
• Voice: PTT channels for Command and Operations.

8 — Workforce & Business Ops

• Certifications (free): NWCG position qualifications (FFT1, CRWB, ENGB, DIVS), Red Card, RT-130, Work Capacity Test, ICS-300/400 and IS courses for every team member; role requirements per ICS position in Warn only; the compliance report before each season.
• Deployment Finance (free): every team deployment (IROC / EMAC order) as a deployment created from the Records external order, with the roster prefilled from accepted fills; members file daily time reports in the Responder app; the finance/admin unit leader approves them and exports the time CSV and DTR PDFs for the incident's cost package.
• Cal OES MARS (Business Ops, California): F-42 per request from the deployment, expense claims for travel, portal handoff by the authorized representative.
• Field costing (Business Ops): a cost run per deployment for the after-action financial summary.

See the Workforce & Business Ops overview for what is free and what needs the add-on.

First-week checklist

• Roles = ICS positions; certifications entered
• Command definition templates built and tested in the Incident Command app
• ICS 202/204/205/206/214 definitions published with per-incident numbering
• One exercise incident run end-to-end: call, command board, forms, AAR
• NWCG / ICS types added; positions carry requirements
• Deployment created from an external order with roster prefilled