Incident Command System
This online thematic collection contains terminology on Incident Command System (ICS) in English, French and Spanish. The ICS is a standardized on-scene emergency management concept specifically designed to allow users to adopt an integrated organizational structure equal to the complexity and demands of single or multiple incidents, without hindrance of jurisdictional boundaries. ICS is recognized as an effective means of managing fires and other emergencies. Since its inception, ICS has been recognized as the international model in managing emergency situations, and has been used on a worldwide base.
ICS is based on the premise that no single Agency or Department can handle every fire situation alone. To coordinate the effective use of all of the available resources, Agencies require a formalized management structure that lends consistency, fosters efficiency, and provides direction during a response. The ICS organization has five major components: command, planning, operations, logistics, finance/administration.
The online glossary contains 63 terms and definitions in English, French and Spanish prepared by the Fire Management Working Group of the North American Forest Commission over the 2008-2010 timeframe.
The online system was developed by the FAO Forest Resources Development Service, FORM, in cooperation with the FAO Language Support Group of CSCM (now CPAM), to provide a wider dissemination of terms and to allow for further developments in the future for content and languages. Developing the collection in other languages such as Arabic, Chinese and Russian is currently foreseen.
FAO pays particular attention to enhance language use and to standardize technical terminology for its meetings, documentation and publications. It also promotes standard best practices for terminology management and storage, facilitating growth, interoperability and exchange.
This Glossary will serve to facilitate multilingual communication and documentation in FAO's long-term objective of enhancing land use policy and rural livelihoods, and of promoting economic resilience and environmental integrity for international cooperation on fire management and disaster response.