Cover sheet
Paper submission to SDLT, National
Manager or Region Manager meeting
1. Subject
Subject/Title:
SDLT IMT Framework
Author
Paul Turner, National Manager Response Capability
Response required by
(date):
To be presented at
SDLT Monthly
(specify meeting type
and date):
2. Why is this paper being submitted to SDLT, National Managers or Region Managers
Noting
Approval
✓
Endorsement
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Feedback
3. Sponsorship
It is the responsibility of the author to ensure that the paper being presented to SDLT, National Managers, or
Regions Managers is sponsored by a member of SDLT. Please tick the relevant SDLT sponsor(s):
✓ National Manager(s):
Paul Turner
✓
Training – SDLT portfolio holder
(David Guard)
✓ Region Manager(s):
Henderson, Grant, Guard
Equipment – SDLT portfolio holder
(Ron Devlin)
Districts - SDLT portfolio holder (Mike Grant)
Property – SDLT portfolio holder
(Paul Henderson)
Fleet - SDLT portfolio holder (Bruce Stubbs)
Chief Advisor DCE Service Delivery
Safety, Health and Wellbeing – SDLT portfolio
DCE Service Delivery
holder (Ron Devlin)
4. Consultation
under the Official Information Act 1982
The attached paper may have implications for other business groups, projects or programmes. It is the
responsibility of the author to ensure a proper consultative process has taken place beforehand. Consultation
has occurred with (please specify all relevant groups below, including teams within Service Delivery, other
internal business groups and external where appropriate):
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5. Comments
Advise below if there is additional information you would like SDLT/National Managers/Region Managers to
know when considering this paper. Advise what you are expecting to get from SDLT and/or the reasons why
this paper is being submitted to SDLT (if not covered in the body of the paper).
6. Recommendations
I recommend that SDLT
Note the summary of the current state of Incident Management in Fire and Emergency NZ.
Endorse the concept of developing an incident management system that may not explicitly name the base
operating system, but rather develop Fire and Emergency guidance documents based on ICS principles that
are compatible with ICS systems and aligned with AIIMS.
Endorse the concept of operations for incident management outlined in this paper.
Discuss the concept of using the EMPS system for accreditation for IMT roles not covered by the Fire and
Emergency Technical Competency Framework (TCF).
Endorse the development of Command and Control Guidance documents outlined in this paper (Incident
Management policy, Standard Operating Guidelines, Guideline Support Documents).
Endorse the progression of this capability.
Direct the National Manager Response Capability to seek funding to develop an indicative business case to
present to the Investment Panel to progress this capability.
7. Author sign-off
Name
Paul Turner
Title
National Manager Response
Capability
Signature
Date
10/08/2021
8. Business Owner/Manager sign-off
Name
Title
Signature
Date
under the Official Information Act 1982
9. SDLT sponsor sign-off
Name
Title
Signature
Date
Released
To: DCE Service Delivery & SDLT
From: Paul Turner, National Manager Response Capability
Date: 21 July 2021
Subject: Future IMT framework and transition to an ICS or AIIMS based command and
control system.
Reference #:
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to outline the plan for Fire and Emergency to develop an integrated approach to
incident management, and to grow the incident management capability and capacity to a level that is
expected politically and publicly from the reformed organisation, and in a manner that is consistent with the
new organisational structure.
The paper will focus on identifying the current state, identifying what an integrated and unified approach to
incident management looks like, and outlining how we can progress this work.
Our Current State
Our current situation is that we have urban crews operating under the original Command & Control manual
and procedures based on CIMS1, and rural crews operating using ICS processes that they also use when
working on Australian and North American operations. A considerable portion of the internationally proven
and accepted ICS fundamentals and principles were lost in the re-writes of CIMS2 and CIMS3. (Teeling, Tony,
2017) (Teeling, Tony, 2017) (Cowan, 2017)
The current version of the Command and Control manual is based on CIMS 1 and hasn’t been updated since
it was introduced in 2007 and then amended in 2013. The NZFS developed a new manual based on CIMS2 in
2016, however this wasn’t introduced as it was decided that it wasn’t fit for purpose in terms of describing
rural operations. This was a significant gap given we were entering the transition phase to Fire and Emergency
NZ. Since that time NEMA has released the third version of CIMS [ CIMS3], which, as mentioned above, is a
further departure from ICS principles in terms of Incident Controller locations (ICS principle of one incident,
one IC, one IAP) and very NEMA and Planning centric at the cost of being Operations centric. Consequently,
Fire and Emergency has previously made the decision to move to the Australasian based AIIMS format of
incident management system. This format has been ICS based for several decades. However, recently the
under the Official Information Act 1982
National Commander has expressed reservations about Fire and Emergency explicitly describing our future
incident management system as AIIMS.
In terms of the organisation’s current capability; we have been operating successfully at an incident level
under the Interim Command and Control Policy (M1 POP) which was issued as a Fire and Emergency
Integration Day One policy, however the differences begin to show as the incident size or complexity
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increases, more so, when urban and rural crews are working alongside one another at the same incident.
The main areas of concern that have emerged since the Day One Command and Control policy was
introduced are:
• Fire and Emergency does not have an Incident Management system that reflects the new
organisational structure to provide a suitable incident management capability for large scale
incidents at the Region or National level
• Fire and Emergency does not have a planned; exercised; and documented system for all incident
types, and where personnel from different fire backgrounds are working together.
• Fire and Emergency does not currently have an incident management system that is competency
based, nor does it have a means of routinely, and regularly measuring that competence. It is
recognised that there is a technical competency framework under development but the organisation
is some way off in developing a competency assessment for all incident management team roles such
as Planning, Logistics, Intelligence etc.
• The current National Incident Management Team (NIMT) system provides a form of National level
management system, however the NIMTs are rural incident based, were designed to operate in an
environment when we had separate urban and rural jurisdictions, and therefore aren’t fully
compatible with the current Fire and Emergency organisational structures. As a result, the Region
Managers have expressed concerns and a desire to have a more direct relationship with the NIMTs
and how they are managed. Additionally, the activation processes do not reflect current Fire and
Emergency structures and will require some redevelopment of activation process and operating
plans
• National consistency is limited and there is limited awareness of national reporting requirements.
The NIMTs themselves lack consistency and there is a lack of compatibility between the NIMTs,
Region Coordination Centres, Region based IMTs, and the National Coordination Centre. Related to
this, there is only a limited understanding of the ICS co-ordination function, and the National Security
System Directorate coordinating functions. All of the above make it difficult for the Region Managers
and the National Commander to have clear oversight of a Region based or National based capability,
and to have a clear understanding of the organisation’s surge capacity capability
Identifying what an integrated or unified approach to incident management looks like.
As we integrate into a truly unified organisation, we need to develop policies, procedures and guidelines that
underpin incidents covered by our broader mandate inclusive of both rural and urban operations at ‘incident’
level, and at the higher IMT level in a consistent way. To do this we will develop incident management
structures that reflect Fire and Emergency’s new organisational structure with accountabilities at the Station,
District, Region, and National levels. We will write new Command & Control guidance that is consistent with
ICS based incident management principles. This will allow our operations to be managed under the same
standard operational guidelines with common terminology and structures, whilst still retaining the
interoperability with our international colleagues and sector partners.
To achieve this, we will follow the principles outlined below:
• Incident Management will be developed from the bottom up through Stations, District, Regions, and
then Nationally
• Maintenance of interoperability with other agencies for multi-agency events
• Carry out Incident Management based on Fire and Emergency Command and Control guidance
irrespective of incident type
• Establish Fire and Emergency NZ common terminology – but recognise differences between incident
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types
• Ensure that competent personnel are in charge of Fire and Emergency NZ frontline appliances and
manage Level 1 incidents through existing qualification processes
• Fire and Emergency NZ will have a technical competency framework or an equivalent process for
accrediting personnel for Level 2 and Level 3 IMT roles (for example the AFAC Emergency
Management Professionalisation Scheme (EMPS) or an equivalent system
• Personnel managing Level 2 and Level 3 incidents will be assessed as competent to do so
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• Personnel performing IMT roles will be trained and assessed as competent to do so
• District and Regions may draw on non-frontline personnel from within Districts or Regions for IMT
roles
• Districts and Regions may draw on existing NIMT personnel for IMT roles
• Districts and Regions may use contractors or personnel from sector partners or other agencies (if
trained and accredited) for IMT roles
• Incident Controllers will be the person as assessed as competent for the role (dependant on
incident type), not the highest-ranking person
• Incident Controllers will only control incidents that they have the technical expertise to do so
The tables below detail the concept of building incident management capability up from incident level
through to level 3 regional or national incidents. The concept is that Level 1 incidents are managed with the
initial level response and monitored by Assistant Fire Commanders. Group Managers will be responsible for
incident management capability in their area of responsibility. The station level capability contributes to the
District Level 2 capability.
Level 2 incidents will be generally managed by Assistant Fire Commanders, supported by Officers from the
initial or greater alarm response, and supplemented by other executive officers (Assistant Fire Commanders
and Fire Commanders) from neighbouring Groups or Districts. District Managers will be responsible for
maintaining Level 2 incident management capability in their Districts. This capability may be supplemented
by personnel trained to fill specific AIIMS IMT roles such as PIM, Logistics etc. The District capability
contributes to the Region Level capability.
Level 3 incidents will be managed at a District or Regional level by personnel assessed as competent to
manage that type of Level 3 Incident and will be supported by personnel trained and assessed as competent
to fill IMT roles. Region Managers will be responsible for maintaining level 3 incident management capability
in their regions and ensuring that there is capacity available to respond to incidents. The Regional Level 3
capability will be drawn from District(s) Level 2 Capability within the Region and other personnel trained to
fill IMT roles. Initial response to Level 3 incidents will be drawn from within the Region capability, and
supported by other Regions, for larger or longer duration incidents. This is expected to be a formal and
planned approach to incident support, not an adhoc “on the day” arrangement. The combined Region
capability and capacity contributes to the National Capability.
Region resources may be drawn from the Region based NIMT personnel in the interim. Over time the current
NIMTs will be phased out as Regions develop their Level 3 capability creating greater depth and specialist
capabilities that will contribute to a National Capabilities.
National Level 3 incidents will be supported by all Regions and National Headquarters staff. Personnel can be
trained for IMT roles, or Coordination Centre roles, or both.
National Security or ODESC
System
National Response or
Coordination
under the Official Information Act 1982
Level 3: Regional
Level 2: District
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Level 1: Station Level
Accreditation of roles.
A fundamental requirement for any incident management system is to have people who are trained and
accredited to carry out their roles in the incident management team. Currently Fire and Emergency is
developing a Technical Competency Framework (TCF) to allow senior officers to demonstrate competency
for incident management, however this system is in it’s a development stage and is currently aimed at those
carrying the rank of Fire Commander and Assistant Fire Commander who would be most likely fill Incident
Controller or Operations roles.
An alternative to extending the TFC beyond the rank focus is the AFAC Emergency Management
Professionalisation Scheme. In 2015 AFAC developed an entity that could examine individuals involved in
emergency management education and experience and promote standards of ethics in the sector. The result
of this was the formation of the Emergency Management Professionalisation Scheme (EMPS) which provides
accreditation across all IMT functions as described in AIIMS at two levels, ‘Registered’, and the higher level
of ‘Certified’.
EMPS has been set up as a separate business area of AFAC under a Director who reports to the AFAC CEO,
who in turn is responsible to the AFAC Board and Council for the administration of the scheme. Currently it
is possible to gain registration for the following roles:
• Level 2 Incident Controller
• Level 3 Incident Controller
• Planning Officer
• Intelligence Officer
• Public Information Officer
• Level 2 Operations Officer
• Level 3 Operations Officer
• Logistics Officer
• Finance Officer
And the Certified roles are:
• Strategic Commander (for those in National Level Response Coordinator roles)
• Incident Controller
• Planning Officer
• Public Information Officers
• Operations Officer
• Logistics Officer
The scheme also offers registration and certification for a number of other roles beyond the IMT such as:
• Prescribed burning (Registered)
• Burn Controller (Certified)
• Divisional Commander (Registered)
• Fire Investigator (Registered and Certified) Fire and Emergency is engaged in the EMPS at this level
• Fire Behaviour Analyst (Registered and Certified)
under the Official Information Act 1982
• Arduous Bushfire Firefighter (Registered)
All accredited roles require a level Continuing Professional Development (CPD) which must be recorded with
the EMPS.
Although it makes sense to continue with the TCF to continue to assess the competency of the Fire and
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Emergency commander level ranks, consideration should be given to adopting the EMPS system of
accreditation for non–uniformed or ranked personnel (internal or external) who will be members of District
or Region based IMTs or Coordination Centre Teams.
More information on the scheme can be found a
t https://www.emps.org.au/
Details of Incident Management Capability Concepts
Level 1 Incidents.
Level 1 incidents are characterised by being resolved through the use of local or initial response
resources only. Control is limited to the immediate area and the Incident Controller usually performs all
the necessary functions. The Incident Controller may delegate some functions to personnel on scene
(e.g. operations managed by crew leader).
Group Managers are responsible for ensuring that there is incident management capability for Level 1
incidents within their Groups.
Managed at Incident / Station level. Assisted by Assistant Fire Commanders, stations from neighbouring
Groups, other Assistant Fire Commanders. Monitored by Group Manager / Assistant Fire Commander.
Controlled by
System / information
Accreditation levels
Notes
required
• Chief Fire Officers
Detailed knowledge of
Accredited through
General day to day
• Deputy Chief Fire
Fire and Emergency NZ
current qualification
incidents managed at
Officers
Command & Control
process.
station response level.
• Senior Station
guidance
May require Group
Officers
Incident level OICs
Manager response at
• Station Officers
Awareness and trained
(people in trucks) will
times to provide
• Voluntary Rural Fire in Fire and Emergency
maintain the same
additional control
Force Controllers
incident Command and
training and
measures or assist with
• Voluntary Rural Fire Control processes.
qualifications systems
coordinating specialist
Force Deputy
that they operate
response.
Controllers
Awareness of CIMS for
under in the short –
• Rural Fire Officers
multi-agency
medium term.
interaction.
Qualification processes
and systems reviewed
and updated over time.
TAPs systems need to
be modified to
incorporate new C&C
guidance and AIIMS
terminology
under the Official Information Act 1982
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Level 2 Incidents.
Level 2 incidents may be more complex either in size, resources or risk. They are characterised by the
need for:
• deployment of resources beyond initial response; or
• the operations being divided into geographic or functional sectors; or
• the establishment of incident management functional roles due to the levels of complexity; or
• a combination of the above.
District Managers are responsible for ensuring that there is incident management capability for Level 2
incidents within their Districts
Managed at Group Level. Assisted by neighbouring Assistant Fire Commanders, Stations from
neighbouring Groups or Districts. Monitored by District Manager / Fire Commander.
Controlled by
System / information
Suggested
Notes
required
Accreditation levels
• Initial OIC
Detailed knowledge of
Fire Commanders and
Requires Assistant Fire
• Assistant Fire
Fire and Emergency NZ
Assistant Fire
Commander response.
Commanders
Command & Control
Commanders:
Assistant Fire
• Fire Commanders
guidance.
Technical Competency
Commander will form
Framework (TCF)
IMT from initial
Detailed knowledge of
Level 2 Incident
response resources.
Fire and Emergency
Controllers
incident management
EMPS accredited IMT
May call for further
systems and command
roles
executives (Group or
and control processes
District) or other
specialists to form initial
Awareness of CIMS for
IMT.
inter-agency processes.
IMT relief may come
from other Districts or
Regions.
Coordinated (if required
at RCC level)
under the Official Information Act 1982
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Level 3 Incidents.
Level 3 incidents are characterised by degrees of complexity that may require a more substantial
organisational structure to manage the emergency. These emergencies will usually involve delegation of
all incident management functions.
Incidents which by their very nature provide a degree of complexity that requires the establishment of
divisions for the effective management of the situation. These incidents will generally involve the
delegation of all functions and the Incident Management Team (IMT) will have the majority of roles
filled.
• The IC will have designated a large number of functional roles
• The threat/impact to the community and/or environment will be large
• Incident Actions Plans will be written and likely detailed
• Regional or National resources will be required
• Numerous other agencies and stakeholders will likely be involved
Region Managers are responsible for ensuring that there is incident management capability for Level 3
Incidents within their Regions and to support National Deployments.
Managed at Region Level. Assisted by Neighbouring Group and District Managers, Stations from
neighbouring Groups, Districts or Regions. Inter-Region resources coordinated Nationally.
Controlled by
System / information
Suggested
Notes
required
Accreditation Levels
• Initial OIC
Detailed knowledge of Technical
Regions to maintain Level 3 IMT
• Assistant Fire
Fire and Emergency
Competency
resources for all of the AIIMS
Commanders
NZ Command &
Framework (TCF).
IMT functions to manage the
• Fire
Control guidance.
Level 2 and 3
initial response to a level 3
Commanders
Incident Controllers
incident.
• IMT drawn from Detailed knowledge of EMPS or similar
Regional
the Fire and
accredited IMT roles. IMT positions such as planning,
resources.
Emergency incident
logistics etc do not need to be
• Backed up by
management systems
filled by operational personnel,
IMT resources
and command and
but personnel must be trained
drawn from
control processes:
and accredited.
other Regions.
Completed Fire and
• Coordinated
Emergency NZ IMT
Regions will have ICs or
Nationally
training courses.
Operations Managers that have
Knowledge of CIMS for
incident specific expertise, for
under the Official Information Act 1982
inter-agency
example:
processes.
• Vegetation
• Complex structure fires
Knowledge of National
• Earthquake
Security / ODESC
• Flood / Weather events.
system for National
reporting
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Further resources / relief IMTs
drawn for other Regions.
Inter-Region response or relief
IMT resources coordinated
nationally through NCC
Regions to maintain personnel
trained to staff Region
Coordination Centres.
National
Inter – Region resources for Region
back up IMTs are coordinated
national y.
Requires Fire Commander
District
Region Managers are
and / or IMT response.
responsible for ensuring that IMTs formed by trained and Requires Assistant Fire
Regions have Level 3 IMT
Group / Station
accredited personnel for ICS
Commander response..
capability to assist inter-
based IMT roles.
Assistant Fire Commander wil
regionally.
form IMT from initial response
Incidents managed at station
Region Managers are
DCE Service Delivery ensures
resources.
level by crew OICs
responsible for ensuring that
that there is a national and
Other specialist IMT roles may be Some incidents require
there is Level 3 IMT capability required.
international capability.
Assistant Fire Commander
in their Regions.
response.
District Managers are
Fire Commanders or other
Group Managers responsible
responsible for ensuring that
personnel are trained and
Group Managers can fulfil
for ensuring incident
accredited to manage Level 3 response requirements within
management capability in
incidents.
their Districts.
their Groups (qualifications,
OSM etc)
Assistant Fire Commanderss are
qualified to manage incidents
and supplemented by people
trained to fill IMT roles.
The role of Coordination Centres.
The requirements, activation triggers and the role of the coordination centres is laid out in M1-4 POP
Coordination Centre Policy and M1-4 SOP Coordination Centre Procedure. However, during the Tasman fires
there was some criticism or questioning the role of the Region and National Coordination centres and a view
was expressed by some that the coordination centres added an element of confusion and interference as to
who was doing what.
There appears to be a cultural or operational difference between the different types of operations and use
of IMTs from the legacy organisations. This is because the previous Rural sector would tend to develop a fully
staffed or ‘deep’ IMT that needed little support beyond the IMT itself other than some oversite from their
home agency due to the fact that there was little national coordination amongst the various rural fire
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authorities, whereas in the urban side of the business the IMTs have been quiet ‘thin’ due to the high speed
nature of the operations – and the coordination centres were leaned on heavily to support the business with
resources, shift changes, welfare etc. Additionally, the coordination centres in the urban side of the business
have been relied on to provide oversite for weather type incidents where we might have 40 – 50 individual
concurrent responses across multiple locations, with the resourcing and oversight being managed by a senior
officer in a coordination centre. Sometimes with NCC oversight if the weather event is moving down country,
or inter-regional resourcing is required.
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Furthermore, the organisation has responsibilities (managed by NCC) in terms of the National Security System
Directorate and the NCMC which a lot of people beyond the NHQ environment don’t currently have much
awareness of. These are all things that we need to look at and find the right balance as we progress this work.
However, it has been seen that having multiple coordination centres for one incident (regardless of size) does
not work and it may not be necessary to have both and RCC and an NCC activated for a single incident.
Recommendation 11 of the Tasman Fire Action Plan suggests that Fire and Emergency should review, clarify,
and document the roles of the NCC, RCC, and the IMT in Fire and Emergency managed incidents, to include
reporting lines for NIMTs, and the working relationships between field based and national based co-
ordination centres. This work can be captured as we develop and define this IMT framework.
What is the best incident management system for Fire and Emergency?
In July 2017 AFAC released the Independent Operational Review into the Port Hills fires of February 2017.
The review highlighted the issue that the Coordinated Incident Management System (CIMS) was less effective
in managing the incident as it had not used in a consistent manner between the various fire agencies. The
review went on to discuss the opportunity for Fire and Emergency to move to the Australasian Inter-Service
Incident Management System (AIIMS).
The reason for this conclusion is that Australia and New Zealand would be able to share ideas and
operate together on a common operating platform. AIIMS is an Australasian system supported by
AFAC, and all of the states in Australia and Fire and Emergency New Zealand already contribute to
AIIMS through its membership of AFAC. AIIMS has a well-resourced steering committee that supports
its development and is able to be updated based on worldwide best practices and experiences gained
through participation in overseas deployments. The system was developed to meet community needs
as well as the needs of the emergency services using it. Another advantage it offers for Fire and
Emergency New Zealand is that all the training material required to be competent in using the system
is included in the AIIMS package, and training material is updated as the system is reviewed.
Therefore, there is negligible cost for Fire and Emergency New Zealand in moving to AIIMS; as a new
organisation it presents a unique opportunity to support a unified organisation. (Goodwin, 2017)
Furthermore in 2019 the AFAC independent review of the Tasman fires recommended (Recommendation 9)
that Fire and Emergency New Zealand adopt AIIMS.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand should embed AIIMS as the preferred internal incident control
system for the management of its incidents. Personnel who interface outside of Fire and Emergency
New Zealand with one or more agencies including the broader emergency management
arrangements should retain an understanding of CIMS management structures and liaison and
reporting requirements so they can operate in that capacity when required. (Cooper, Considine,
Cartelle, & Papesch, 2019)
However, in the discussion leading to the recommendation they make the point that they were not
suggesting that CIMS was not fit for purpose and was recognisably related to AIIMS and the North American
ICS system (NIMS).
We are not suggesting in this discussion that CIMS is not fit for purpose and to the contrary, as noted
above, it is recognisably related to AIIMS and NIMS. Where we consider that AIIMS may add
significant value is that in its development over the past 20 years, it has been through a number of
under the Official Information Act 1982
revisions with significant input from operational experts going into each one. This has established it
as a rich resource for incident managers based on lessons identified, and significant research into the
practice of incident management. Another peripheral benefit of AIIMS is that as the ICS used by all
Australian fire and emergency service agencies, sound knowledge of AIIMS makes it easier to fit into
Australian incident management structures in the event of a deployment. (Cooper, Considine,
Cartelle, & Papesch, 2019)
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This raises a number of points to consider in determining what incident management system Fire and
Emergency should utilise when responding to the approximately 80,000 incidents per year when Fire and
Emergency is the lead agency. There is no doubt that Fire and Emergency will use CIMS when involved in
large scale multi-agency events as has been witnessed recently with responses to weather related events
such as the South Auckland tornado, or the Westport flood response, but what is required for Fire and
Emergency is an incident management system that details how Fire and Emergency will operate for when it
responds to the various incident types that we attend, and allows for supporting guidelines to be developed
for specific incident types such as hazardous substance, or high rise building fire incidents, as well as various
levels of wildfire incidents.
In doing this it may not be necessary to explicitly choose or name a system, but rather develop Fire and
Emergency guidance documents based on ICS principles that are compatible with ICS systems but with a
particular focus on aligning the guidance with AIIMS as this would give Fire and Emergency access to the full
suite of existing training resources produced at no cost by AFAC which will be a cost effective and expedient
option.
Development of new Fire and Emergency Command and Control guidance
Previous versions of the NZFS and Fire and Emergency Command and Control manuals have been prescriptive
in nature and in terms of their purpose because they contained not only Command and Control guidance,
but also material that better belonged in a training document.
It is suggested that the new guidance will provide Fire and Emergency Incident Controllers with a range of
command and control principles and options for incident management for any type of incident regardless of
level that Fire and Emergency might attend.
The plan is to have documents that follow a cascading structure with the chosen ICS system or principles as
the capstone document, followed by:
• An Incident Management Policy that describes:
o The purpose
o The scope and application
o Legal and policy framework
o Policy principles
o Policy implementation
o Roles and responsibilities
o Training and support for incident management
o Monitoring and review cycles
o Document control
• An Incident Management Standard Operational Guideline (SOG) that provides guidance on:
o Deployment
o Command and Control
o Situation evaluation
o Incident Action Planning
o Incident Communications
o Incident Structures
o Review and revision
under the Official Information Act 1982
o Escalation and de-escalation
o Incident safety
o A process based on the DEBRIS model that details how to manage:
▪ Decontamination
▪ Entry and exit of hot zones
▪ BA service areas
▪ Rehabilitation and monitoring of firefighters
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▪ Incident ground accountability of all personnel
▪ Staging areas for firefighters and appliances
• Guideline support documents which give detailed information on Incident Management, safety,
and any other topics, such as the decontamination processes, that support incident management
and can form the basis of training material.
The Command and Control Guidance:
• Is developed pursuant to the fundamentals of ICS
• Describes why guidance on operational incident management is more appropriate than prescriptive
“directives”, given that a prescriptive approach cannot account for the widely differing circumstances
of each incident
• Documents FENZ’s command and control doctrine, elaborating on the philosophies and
underpinning principles of ICS
• Clearly articulates the intent and application of relevant legislation
• Describes the base incident management roles that are applicable for all incidents
• Describes how an incident management structure is established and when and how it may be
required to be built on
under the Official Information Act 1982
• Establishes the incident management terminology to be used by FENZ
• Explains that both flexible and prescriptive approaches are key to effective incident management
teams, their structures, and their operational direction
• Explains how incident controllers can apply the guidance approach [see para on Training
Considerations below]
• Explains how personnel and the organisation can be legally protected when following a guidance,
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rather than prescriptive approach
• Establishes the means of incident management for all FENZ led incidents regardless of
o the type of incident
o the complexity of the incident
o the scale of the incident
o where the incident is located
o the seniority or rank or daytime role of the incident management team membership, and or
the personnel at their disposal; and
o what other agencies are in attendance or providing assistance.
• Clearly establishes the purpose of the incident management co-ordination function, and role of Co-
ordination Centres
• Recognises that the competency, skill, experience and professionalism of people are absolutely
essential for effective incident management, not just rank and seniority alone
• Makes reference to the capability and capacity requirements that are key to maintaining FENZ’s
incident management readiness
• Outlines how we dovetail into an emergency managed by any other agency who use CIMS as their
incident management platform
The Command and Control Guidance is not a document that:
• Should be applied in an exclusively prescriptive fashion
• Replaces incident management training notes and courses, operational policies, incident specific
SOG’s, and or other related SOG’s
• Determines rank, the application of ACL, and who should lead and or be members of incident
management teams
• Has separate urban and rural sections
• Should be rigidly adhered to when FENZ is not the lead agency
Training Considerations.
To manage the relatively short duration, high intensity type incidents that Fire and Emergency responds to
daily (approx. 80,000 per annum), we have in the past relied on prescriptive policies and procedures. The
further down the chain we go the more the prescriptive the procedures are. But we have also managed larger
scale incidents that we have not developed prescriptive procedures for (and will not be able to). These types
of incidents need to be managed by the ’Thinking Commander or Incident Controller” and to do this the shift
to a guidelines approach needs to be underpinned by a comprehensive programme of training, consolidation
and exercising for each individual role in the IMT. The majority of the training collateral for AIIMS IMT
positions is available to Fire and Emergency from AFAC for little or no cost, however, our Workforce
Capability Team will still need to be funded to coordinate and deliver the courses associated with each IMT
role, and to deliver a regular exercise programme to underpin the IMT skills. The People and Workforce
Capability Team will need to be included at every step of the process as this system is developed to ensure
that this work is planned for, budgeted, and accepted into the Training pipeline system.
Progressing the Capability.
To progress the full Fire and Emergency IMT capability programme will require a number of workstreams to
be set up. These workstreams can be defined further as the concept is developed but the following pieces of
work need to be captured: under the Official Information Act 1982
• Development of AIIMS or ICS consistent Command and Control guidance
• Development of a Command and Control Policy along with Standard Operational Guidelines (SOGs)
and Guideline Support Documents (GSDs)
• Awareness, implementation, and training rollout for the new Command and Control guidance
documents and SOGs
• Updating of the Training and Progression System (TAPS) and the Operational Skills Maintenance
Released
system (OSM) to reflect the new documents
• AIIMS or ICS based IMT training packages
• An accreditation system for Level 2 and Level 3 Incident Controllers (most likely the Technical
Competency Framework currently being developed)
• The phasing out of the National Incident Management Teams (NIMTs) as the Group, District, Region
capabilities are developed
• The development of the National Capability as the Region based IMTs are in place.
As a first step it is suggested that the following workstreams should be established:
• Command and Control Doctrine
o Development of manuals, Guidance, and Support documents
• Workforce Capability and Training
o Training and rollout of new Command and Control, and Guideline documents
o AIIMS or ICS consistent IMT training packages
o TAPS update
o Update of OSM skills
• Incident Management Structures
o Development of the Group, District, and Region IMT structures
o Phasing out of the NIMTs
• Accreditation or Technical Competency Framework
o Accreditation for Level 2 and 3 incident controllers
Conclusion
This document outlines the current state of Fire and Emergency’s incident management capability, discusses
what a unified incident management capability would look like for Fire and Emergency, and how we can
progress this capability development. As we develop into a truly unified organisation, we need to have an
incident management framework that is consistent with our newly implemented organisational structure
and is consistent with the organisations decision to use an AIIMS or ICS based system. This framework will
set the organisation up to be able to deploy the right people, with the right training and accreditation with
the right incident management system to any incident that Fire and Emergency people respond to.
The work needed to develop and introduce this enhancement to our broader responsiveness should not be
underestimated, nor should it be considered a “one off” action. There needs to be a commitment to ensuring
that once the desired levels of capability and capacity are reached, the same enthusiasm and rigour is applied
to sustaining it.
Recommendations
I recommend that SDLT:
Note the summary of the current state of Incident Management in Fire and Emergency NZ.
Endorse the concept of developing an incident management system that may not explicitly name the base
operating system, but rather develop Fire and Emergency guidance documents based on ICS principles that
are compatible with ICS systems and aligned with AIIMS.
under the Official Information Act 1982
Endorse the concept of operations for incident management outlined in this paper.
Discuss the concept of using the EMPS system for accreditation for IMT roles not covered by the Fire and
Emergency Technical Competency Framework (TCF).
Endorse the development of Command and Control Guidance documents outlined in this paper (Incident
Management policy, Standard Operating Guidelines, Guideline Support Documents).
Endorse the progression of this capability.
Released
Direct the National Manager Response Capability to seek funding to develop an indicative business case to
present to the Investment Panel to progress this capability.
Signed:
Name: Paul Turner
Job title: National Manager Response Capability
Bibliography
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Cowan, J. (2017).
Incident Management Systems avaialble for use in New Zealand. Cowan.
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INDEPENDENT OPERATIONAL REVIEW, Port Hills fires - February 2017. Melbourne:
Australasian fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council Limited.
Rooney, S. (2021).
A revised incident management platform for Fire and. Wanaka: Rooney.
Teeling, Tony. (2017).
CIMS _AIIMS comparison analysis 2017. Christchurch: Integrated Consultancy
Limited.
Teeling, Tony. (2017).
Differences between CIMS and AIIMS. Christchurch: Integrated Consultancy Services.
under the Official Information Act 1982
Released
