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SAR NEW INITIATIVES FUND

Exercise Unified Command: Parks Canada Demonstrates How ICS Can Help Sar Organizations Work Together – Effectively And Efficiently – To Save Lives

By Carole Smith

From June 12 to 14, 2008, Parks Canada hosted representatives from over 20 search and rescue (SAR) and emergency services organizations at Exercise Unified Command in York, Prince Edward Island.

The objective of the exercise was to gain a better understanding of the strengths of the Incident Command System (ICS), and how it can enhance multi-jurisdictional SAR operations. The participants, who came from across Canada, included military, police, Coast Guard and Parks Canada personnel; federal, provincial, and municipal program managers; representatives from volunteer air, marine, and ground SAR associations; and members of non-governmental organizations.

Led by Parks Canada, with funding assistance from the Search and Rescue New Initiatives Fund, the three day Exercise Unified Command included an ICS-200 workshop, a tabletop scenario and a live SAR exercise that took place in Prince Edward Island National Park.

Roger Steadman, from Parks Canada, is giving a briefing. Photo Credit: Carole Smith

The scenario for the live exercise revolved around a group of teenagers missing on the land and ocean coast adjacent to the park. Over 160 SAR responders were invited to play a role. Using the ICS Unified Command structure, Parks Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police demonstrated how the command function for this type of multijurisdictional SAR response can be shared to optimum effect.

As the exercise unfolded, the observers from the invited agencies were guided through the operational areas by Parks Canada wardens, and briefed on the various components of the response, as structured through ICS. This included the command post, base camp, and various staging areas for vehicles and personnel.

Additional highlights included a presentation of Mi’kmaq culture, a tour of one of Nova Scotia’s emergency mobile communications vehicles, a demonstration of the capabilities of SAR dogs by one of RCMP’s canine teams and the opportunity to examine one of the Meteorological Service of Canada’s Emergency Weather Stations that was deployed to the park in support of the exercise.

In the group debrief following the live exercise, and the subsequent survey used to record feedback from participants, there was an overwhelming agreement that this type of multi-jurisdictional exercise is critical, both to interoperability and to the success of actual missions. Most significantly, 86 percent of respondents indicated that they would recommend the use of ICS as the standard management framework for ground SAR missions.

The origins of Exercise Unified Command date to 2003, when Parks Canada’s successful Canadian Search and Rescue Tabletop Exercise Program evaluated SAR coordination in 32 communities adjacent to national parks and national historic sites across the country. While the program was credited with enhancing local cooperation in SAR planning and response, it also noted the lack of a consistent approach to incident management, particularly when several jurisdictions were involved.

In response to this significant finding, Parks Canada championed a subsequent initiative to identify and promote a command and control system for managing ground SAR operations throughout Canada. With support from the Search and Rescue New Initiatives Fund, Parks Canada has conducted research and consulted with representatives from the Ground Search and Rescue Council of Canada, including major provincial/territorial police forces and SAR program managers.

This spring, it was recommended that the ICS model developed by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) be adopted nationally and made available to the SAR community. This model is already familiar to the natural resources sectors of most provincial and territorial governments, and has proven its worth in coordinating thousands of incidents. On average, 7,500-10,000 wildland fire events occur each year in Canada, with over 400 involving more than one jurisdiction. In 2007, the CIFFC responded to over 100 resource requests, which resulted in the mobilization of over 1,300 personnel, dozens of aircraft, and tonnes of equipment throughout Canada and to the United States. ICS again demonstrated its utility in smoothly managing these complex, multi-jurisdictional responses.

Following the success of Exercise Unified Command, Parks Canada and its working group are currently consulting with the CIFFC to explore how the transfer of this model to the Canadian SAR community can best be achieved.

Overall, this initiative promises to be an important step toward a consistent and standardized approach to the management of SAR incidents across Canada, particularly those involving a multi-jurisdictional ground SAR response.

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What is ICS?

The Incident Command System, or ICS, is a standardized framework for managing any type of emergency situation, whether it is a small search and rescue operation, a major oil spill, or a catastrophic earthquake. It has also been used to help plan meetings, conferences, and prepare for major events, such as the Olympics.

ICS was first developed and refined by the wildland firefighting community in the United States, where a standardized management structure was critical to the smooth, yet rapid deployment of resources from a myriad of different agencies. The system has since been adopted by thousands of law enforcement, emergency management, and health services organizations worldwide, due to its simplicity and its adaptability to any type or scale of incident.

ICS is built upon five key functions required for any undertaking: command, operations, planning, logistics, and finance/administration. It sets out a clear management structure with authority and accountability, and establishes a standard set of terminology for roles and responsibilities. Though they may have never worked together before, thanks to this common approach ICS-trained responders arriving at an incident will rapidly understand how the response is structured, who is in charge and what role everyone is responsible to perform, including their own. It ensures that operational personnel receive the logistic and administrative support they need, while minimizing the duplication of efforts and resources. ICS also provides a means of monitoring safety and managing risk to responders.

As highlighted in Parks Canada’s Exercise Unified Command, when two or more agencies share jurisdiction or responsibility for an incident, ICS offers the flexibility of establishing a Unified Command structure. Rather than having a single Incident Commander, representatives from each agency work together as a Unified Command to set common objectives and strategies. This further maximizes the efficient use of all agencies’ resources, and enhances the safety and effectiveness of the response.

For a sample of the CIFFC ICS model, visit the following link: http://www.ciffc.ca/images/stories/pdf/ Module7Student.pdf

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