Some of us remember the California wildfires of the 1970’s. Various jurisdictions operated under very different protocols and command structures. They were unable to communicate with one another. The result was chaos and an ineffective response, resulting in greater loss of property than was necessary. The long term result was federal legislation to standardize some areas for better response. FEMA was created, the concept of VOAD’s and COAD’s was instituted.
Most importantly there is now a standardized command structure, called the Incident Command Structure (ICS for short), that all players follow in the case of multi-jurisdictional response.
Regardless of the role you might be asked to play when a disaster strikes, you will find yourself in a position to request additional resources. Knowing how to do that within the ICS system will make your effort more effective and efficient.
Come to the EOC, 640 South Franklin, Greenfield on 11/2 at 7:00 PM to participate in an interactive demonstration/exercise of the general message form (ICS-213) and the Resource Request version (ICS-213RR).