Incident Command System at the Weather Forecast Office
(75)
Karleisa Rogacheski, National
Weather Service, Eureka, California
Troy Nicolini, National
Weather Service
Abstract:
The National Weather Service
(NWS) conducts Service Assessments after significant events to learn what worked
well and what needs improving. Many of the Service Assessments completed over
the past seven years have included recommendations regarding NWS operations
that can be addressed by adopting the Incident Command System (ICS) to manage
high impact events. These include the recommendation that roles and
certifications are consistently defined across the NWS, that nimbleness and
flexibility is enhanced during hazardous weather events, and that capacity
building should be given a high priority. These are basic tenets of the
Incident Command System, which is a standardized approach to command, control,
and emergency response for any sized emergency or non-emergency event. ICS is
already used across almost all federal, state, local, non-profit, and tribal
agencies as a result of President Bush mandating the use of ICS with a
Presidential Directive in 2003. Even the US Coast Guard now uses ICS when they
can work with non-military agencies. Because ICS is used so broadly it has
evolved into an outstanding command system that has some benefits over other
command systems. More importantly, the use of ICS by the NWS provides the
opportunity for the agency to have consistency between its many operational
centers, and to be consistent with all NWS partners. In fact, the need for
consistency is why so many agencies use ICS. It ensures they can communicate
and work together during times of crisis. The NWS Weather Forecast Office (WFO)
in Eureka, California uses ICS and has found that it does provide many
benefits. This presentation will discuss the motivation for adopting ICS, how
it is used, and the culture change needed to implement ICS in WFO Eureka.