NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • Incident Management Program

INCIDENT COMPLEXITY GUIDE

+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| ## \--+ | ## TYPE 3       | # **TYPE 2**       | ## TYPE 1          |
|         |                 |                    |                    |
| ##      |                 |                    |                    |
|  FACTOR |                 |                    |                    |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| Re      | •mostly local   | •moderate number   | •large number      |
| sources | resources       |                    |                    |
|         |                 | •many resources    | •large number of   |
|         | •small to       | arrived            | single resources   |
|         | moderate number | pre-organized      | that need to be    |
|         |                 |                    | organized          |
|         | •used to        | •moderate variety  |                    |
|         | working         | of different kinds | •there may be span |
|         | together        | of resources       | of control issues  |
|         |                 |                    | to be resolved     |
|         | -   •variety of | •some ordering     |                    |
|         |     resources   | difficulties       | •wide variety of   |
|         |     not of      |                    | different kinds of |
|         |     issue       | -   lack of        | resources          |
|         |                 |     locally        |                    |
|         | ```{=html}      |     qualified      | •serious/severe    |
|         | <!-- -->        |     incident       | ordering           |
|         | ```             |     personnel      | difficulties       |
|         | -   local       |                    |                    |
|         |     personnel   |                    |                    |
|         |     are         |                    |                    |
|         |     qualified   |                    |                    |
|         |     and         |                    |                    |
|         |     experienced |                    |                    |
|         |     at the      |                    |                    |
|         |     extended    |                    |                    |
|         |                 |                    |                    |
|         | response/attack |                    |                    |
|         |     level       |                    |                    |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| Po      | •local          | •high              | •national/         |
| litical | significance    | local/regional     | international      |
| sensi   |                 | significance       | significance       |
| tivity/ |                 |                    |                    |
| vis     |                 |                    |                    |
| ibility |                 |                    |                    |
| and     |                 |                    |                    |
| conse   |                 |                    |                    |
| quences |                 |                    |                    |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| Variety | •encompasses a  | •encompasses a     | •encompasses a     |
| of      | small to        | moderate variety   | wide variety of    |
| act     | moderate        | of activities      | activities         |
| ivities | variety of      |                    |                    |
| i       | activities      |                    |                    |
| nvolved |                 |                    |                    |
| in      | •activities are |                    |                    |
| i       | generally       |                    |                    |
| ncident | standard for    |                    |                    |
|         | local           |                    |                    |
|         | operations      |                    |                    |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| Costs   | •uses well      | •WASO budget       | •WASO budget       |
| /source | established     | office may be      | office is involved |
| of      | funding         | involved           |                    |
| money   | mechanisms      |                    | •there is a        |
|         |                 | •possibility of    | probability of     |
|         |                 | needing            | needing            |
|         |                 | supplemental       | supplemental       |
|         |                 | appropriation      | appropriation      |
|         |                 |                    |                    |
|         |                 | -   home unit has  |                    |
|         |                 |     inadequate     |                    |
|         |                 |     incident       |                    |
|         |                 |     finance        |                    |
|         |                 |     capability     |                    |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| \# of   | •small to       | •moderate number   | •large number      |
| a       | moderate number |                    |                    |
| gencies |                 |                    |                    |
| and     |                 |                    |                    |
| organi  |                 |                    |                    |
| zations |                 |                    |                    |
| i       |                 |                    |                    |
| nvolved |                 |                    |                    |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| Scope   | •agreements and | •some or most      | •large number of   |
| of      | contracts are   | agreements and     | agreements and     |
| agr     | in place and    | contracts exists   | contracts need to  |
| eements | useable, or are | and are useable    | be developed and   |
| and     | not needed      |                    | implemented        |
| co      |                 | •a small number    |                    |
| ntracts | •incident       | may need to be     | •very large        |
|         | operations are  | written            | contracts may need |
|         | well within     |                    | to be developed    |
|         | local           |                    | (Level IV Warrant) |
|         | capabilities    |                    |                    |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| L       | •within local   | •problems can be   | •special           |
| ogistic | capabilities or | resolved through   | interventions with |
| diffi   | can be easily   | normal procedures  | outside            |
| culties | solved          | and channels       | organizations may  |
|         |                 |                    | be needed to solve |
|         |                 | •incident          | logistics problems |
|         |                 | activities may be  |                    |
|         |                 | dispersed over     | •logistics may     |
|         |                 | wide geographic    | need to be         |
|         |                 | area               | branched           |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| Safety  | •most           | • most identified  | •significant       |
| com     | identified      | risks can be       | research may be    |
| plexity | risks can be    | mitigated by       | needed to identify |
|         | mitigated by    | standard           | risks or           |
|         | standard        | procedures         | appropriate        |
|         | procedures      |                    | litigations        |
|         |                 |                    |                    |
|         |                 |                    | •large number of   |
|         |                 |                    | assistant safety   |
|         |                 |                    | officers required  |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| Media   | •low to         | •high              | •national /        |
| i       | moderate local  | local/regional     | international      |
| nterest | or regional     | significance       | significance       |
| /       | significance    |                    |                    |
| com     |                 | •most information  | •potential for     |
| plexity |                 | is straight        | highly sensitive   |
|         |                 | forward            | information or     |
|         |                 |                    | circumstances      |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| Size of | •incident       | •moderate number   | •large number of   |
| area    | facilities and  | of scattered       | widely scattered   |
| i       | operational     | incident           | incident           |
| nvolved | work sites are  | facilities and/or  | facilities and     |
|         | relatively      | operational work   | operational work   |
|         | close together  | sites.             | sites.             |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| Du      | -   disruption  | -   normal         | -   local unit or  |
| ration/ |     of normal   |     operations or  |     agency cannot  |
| Impacts |     operations  |     activities of  |     resume normal  |
| to      |     is minimal  |     local unit may |     operations due |
| local   |     or of short |     be disrupted   |     to duration    |
| unit    |     duration    |     for a          |     and impacts of |
| ope     |                 |     prolonged      |     incident       |
| rations |                 |     period of time |                    |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| I       | -   cannot be   | -   cannot be met  | -   cannot be met  |
| ncident |     met by      |     by Type III    |     by Type II IMT |
| obj     |     initial     |     IMT            |                    |
| ectives |                 |                    |                    |
|         | response/attack |                    |                    |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| Air     | •the local      | •the local agency  | • the local agency |
| ope     | agency is       | is not prepared to | is not prepared to |
| rations | prepared to     | manage the air     | manage the air     |
|         | properly manage | resources needed   | resources needed   |
|         | the air         |                    |                    |
|         | resources       |                    | •aviation          |
|         | needed to       |                    | complexity may     |
|         | manage the      |                    | require OAS or FAA |
|         | incident        |                    | intervention to    |
|         |                 |                    | resolve issues     |
+---------+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------+

Product of the National Park Service Incident Management Steering
Committee • February, 2001

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • Incident Management Program

INCIDENT COMPLEXITY GUIDE, Instructions and Definitions

+--------------------------------+---+---------------------------------+
| INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING THIS    |   | INFORMATION REGARDING INCIDENT  |
| GUIDE                          |   | TYPES                           |
|                                |   |                                 |
| 1\. Gather as many facts about |   | Type 5 incidents are relatively |
| the incident as possible,      |   | simple incidents that are       |
| using the "factors" column to  |   | usually handled by one          |
| help identify the information  |   | resource. Examples:             |
| needed.                        |   |                                 |
|                                |   | -   motor vehicle accident with |
| 2\. Contact your regional      |   |     no injuries investigated by |
| incident management            |   |     a single police officer     |
| coordinator and discuss the    |   |                                 |
| situation with her or him.     |   | -   small grass fire            |
| Include Type 2 or Type 1       |   |     extinguished by a single    |
| incident commanders in the     |   |     engine.                     |
| decision process, as           |   |                                 |
| appropriate.                   |   | Type 4 incidents are those      |
|                                |   | normally encountered by an      |
| 3\. Looking at the typical     |   | agency or jurisdiction and are  |
| characteristics of each        |   | normally managed by the initial |
| factor, decide which of the    |   | responding resources. Examples: |
| characteristics listed under   |   |                                 |
| the "type" columns best        |   | -   multi-vehicle accident with |
| describes your incident.       |   |     injuries, handled by        |
| Remember, usually no one       |   |     multiple resources.         |
| incident will have all of the  |   |                                 |
| factors fall under just one of |   | -   single-alarm working        |
| the "type" columns.            |   |     building fire.              |
|                                |   |                                 |
| 4\. Determine the complexity   |   | Type 3 incidents are incidents  |
| based upon the column under    |   | that may require more resources |
| which the preponderance of     |   | in addition to those that       |
| factor characteristics fall.   |   | initially responded and/or the  |
| For example, if most of the    |   | timeframes for managing the     |
| characteristics are best       |   | incident are extended. (Some    |
| described by the Type 2        |   | large parks may maintain        |
| column, then the incident is   |   | organized Type 3 Incident       |
| probably of Type 2 complexity. |   | Management Teams.) Examples:    |
| But, also consider mitigating  |   |                                 |
| as well as aggravating         |   | -   lost person search          |
| circumstances. For example, an |   |     extending over several      |
| analysis of agency             |   |     operational periods.        |
| participation in the 2002      |   |                                 |
| Olympics in Salt Lake City     |   | -   one-day dignitary visit.    |
| seemed to have a number of     |   |                                 |
| Type 1 characteristics, such   |   | -   multiple alarm structural   |
| as international significance  |   |     fire.                       |
| and world-wide media           |   |                                 |
| attention. However, further    |   | Type 2 incidents are incidents  |
| inspection of these factors    |   | of significant complexity       |
| showed that they were NOT an   |   | exhibiting characteristics      |
| agency responsibility and      |   | shown by the factors listed on  |
| should not force the incident  |   | the reverse side of this sheet. |
| to Type 1. Conversely, the     |   | These incidents are usually     |
| President's three week         |   | managed by regionally organized |
| vacation in Grand Teton        |   | Type 2 Incident Management      |
| National Park meant high-level |   | Teams. Examples:                |
| political involvement with     |   |                                 |
| significant media attention    |   | -   impacts from moderate to    |
| over an extended period,       |   |     large disaster, such as a   |
| driving an otherwise Type 2    |   |     hurricane, flood, tornado   |
| incident to Type 1.            |   |     or earthquake.              |
|                                |   |                                 |
| 5\. Order incident resources,  |   | -   large special event or      |
| including an Incident          |   |     ceremony.                   |
| Management Team, if needed,    |   |                                 |
| accordingly. Remember, one of  |   | Type 1 incidents are the most   |
| the benefits of the Incident   |   | complex incidents, often        |
| Command System is that if you  |   | involving multiple kinds of     |
| were wrong, or if the          |   | activities, a large area of     |
| situation changes, you can     |   | operation or significant        |
| always transition to a more    |   | political involvement. These    |
| complex or less complex        |   | incidents are usually managed   |
| management structure as        |   | by a nationally organized Type  |
| needed.                        |   | 1 Incident Management Team.     |
|                                |   | Examples:                       |
|                                |   |                                 |
|                                |   | -   impacts from a large        |
|                                |   |     disaster, such as a         |
|                                |   |     hurricane, flood, tornado   |
|                                |   |     or earthquake.              |
|                                |   |                                 |
|                                |   | ```{=html}                      |
|                                |   | <!-- -->                        |
|                                |   | ```                             |
|                                |   | -   large special event or      |
|                                |   |     ceremony with national or   |
|                                |   |     international significance. |
+--------------------------------+---+---------------------------------+