The California Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL
FIRE) has developed Incident Command Teams (ICT) to command large
complex incidents. CAL FIRE maintains 10 Incident Command Teams,
five in the Northern Region and five in the Southern Region. Each
day of the year two CAL FIRE
Incident Command Teams are ready for deployment anywhere in the
state, or outside of California
if requested.
A Incident Command Team consists of 37 highly
trained and certified individuals and 15 trainees that, as a team,
provide incident command skills for any type of disaster, regardless
of location. Each team includes members with the experience and
skills to fill responsibilities including incident commander,
planning, finance, logistics, safety, information, and air
operations to name a few.
The CAL
FIRE Incident Command Team works under the direction of the local
jurisdiction having statutory responsibility for the incident. If it
is a wildland fire on State Responsibility Area (SRA) then
CAL
FIRE is the lead for all activities in the suppression effort. If a
wildland fire were to occur on both SRA and federal lands, then a
unified command may occur. If, however, it is an earthquake or
hazardous materials spill within an urban area,
CAL
FIRE may be called in to assist in the management of the incident,
but the overall lead would be the local agency of jurisdiction.
CAL FIRE ICT’s command large complex wildland fires on a regular
basis as well as major hazardous materials incidents, flood fighting
operations, earthquakes and other incidents or activities needing a
management structure.
In 1990 the
concept of Incident Management Teams was in use by federal agencies.
CAL FIRE developed Major Incident Command Teams (MICT)
in 1996 to manage large complex incidents. What is now Team 6 was
originally known as Sierra Area Team 1. Pat Micheal, a mentor
to many MMU folks, was the first IC for Sierra Team 1. Other team
members included Jay Donnelly and Bill Hodson (Operations), John
Shimer (Plans), Larry Cowger (Logistics), Chris Schrowe (Finance),
Ray Stockwell (Liaison), Bill Cote (Safety), and Larry German
(Information). At the time, these were the only positions filled on
the team. Over the years several other positions were added such as
Doug Hicks (Air Ops). The team became known as
CDF Team 11 in 1997, and finally CDF Team 6 in 2001.
