Incident Command Systems Essay

The Incident Command System provides effective management of large scale incidents. Additionally, the system is composed of many vital positions needed to be successful. One such position is the Public Information Officer (PIO). The PIO has a tremendous role in ICS which is integrated across an entire incident. Moreover, a PIO must have certain skills, qualifications, and characteristics to be successful. Therefore, an Emergency Management Agency must carefully screen all prospective candidates to ensure they obtain the right person for the job. Overall, the PIO position has a vital role within ICS. First, the PIO has an important role within the ICS structure. The PIO’s primary role within the ICS structure is to process and disseminate incident information to the news media (Lindell, Perry, & Prater, 2007, p. 275). Though, this may seem minor the role requires integration through all levels of the ICS structure. In addition, each incident is only assigned one PIO, however he or she may have assistants depending on the size of the incident and number of media inquiries (DHS, 2014, p. 6-3). Therefore, the assigned PIO must be able to develop an effective media strategy and public information plan, draft press releases, and be in constant contact with the Incident Commander to ensure timely accurate …show more content…
First, their primary role of managing the media requires strategic planning to be effective. At first glance, the PIO role may seem small, however its work load directly corresponds to size of the incident and the number of media inquiries. In addition to be successful, a PIO must possess a set of inherent skills, qualifications, and characteristics. Overall by effectively screening prospective candidates thru assessment of their skills and abilities, an Incident Management Organization can capitalize efforts to ease the burden of the media to concentrate efforts in managing an