Establishment of the ICS modular organization is the responsibility of the:
A. Logistics Section
B. Operations Section
C. Incident Commander
D. Local Authorities
Answer: C. Incident Commander
An Incident Commander is in charge of organizing the ICS into functional and geographically based modularity. This critical function includes evaluating the comprehensiveness of the incident and its difficulty and deciding on the aspects of the ICS structure that are important in addressing the event. Thus, the authorities of the IC to set up the organizational structure also guarantee the appropriateness of the provided response regarding the nature of the incident, utilizing resources within the capacity of the event. For instance, if the situation is a small scale and it occurs in a limited geographical region such as an incidence of a minor traffic accident, the IC may choose to work at a minimal hierarchy level meaning that the IC may have to perform several tasks on his or her own. However, for a more massive scale event such as a wildfire or hurricane, the IC is probably going to activate almost all sections in the ICS including the Operations, Planning, Logistics and even the Finance/Administration sections, investigating the possibility of delegating authority to the section chiefs. IC’s work also includes either broadening or narrowing down the organization in response to the size of the incident. For instance, if an initial feeling was of a small spill of hazardous material, while in reality it is serious the IC will adjust the structure adding more specialized units or requesting more resources. It also has virtues related to time and is very flexible in proposing a response that can be co-adapted according to the circumstances. This responsibility is granted to the Incident Commander; the ICS guarantees that there is always one authoritative organizational decision-maker in the process, with a clear chain of subordination of communication and decision-making.
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