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19 December 2025
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Featured FRI Magazine article: ICS and Disaster Management Training in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa by Chief Ronald R Spadafora, chief of fire prevention, Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and Chief Timothy M Murphy
Emerald City flood operational briefing at the Eastern Cape training
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: ICS and Disaster Management Training in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa written by Ronald R Spadafora, chief of fire prevention, Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and Timothy M Murphy, deputy fire operations specialist, US Forest Service and technical lead for the NIMS/ICS Programme in southern Africa (FRI Vol 3 no 10). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
ICS and Disaster Management Training in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
By Ronald R Spadafora, chief of fire prevention, Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and Timothy M Murphy, deputy fire operations specialist, US Forest Service and technical lead for the NIMS/ICS Programme in southern Africa
The incident command system (ICS) is a standardised, hands-on management instrument designed to allow first responders to utilise an integrated organisational toolbox to deal with complex incidents. Developed in California to manage large-scale forest fires spanning multiple jurisdictions in the early 1970s, ICS allowed fire fighters to address unclear lines of authority, insufficient/incompatible radio communications, span of control issues and uncoordinated incident objectives.
ICS is composed of five major managerial functions (Figure 1) that are essential for large scale operations. They include: command, operations, planning, logistics and finance/administration. The command staff consists of an incident commander along with a safety officer, public information officer and agency liaison officer. A basic operating guideline is that the incident commander is responsible for all activities until command authority is transferred to another qualified individual. General staff members include section chiefs who head each module listed below command.
ICS and Disaster Management Training in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
By Ronald R Spadafora, chief of fire prevention, Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and Timothy M Murphy, deputy fire operations specialist, US Forest Service and technical lead for the NIMS/ICS Programme in southern Africa
The incident command system (ICS) is a standardised, hands-on management instrument designed to allow first responders to utilise an integrated organisational toolbox to deal with complex incidents. Developed in California to manage large-scale forest fires spanning multiple jurisdictions in the early 1970s, ICS allowed fire fighters to address unclear lines of authority, insufficient/incompatible radio communications, span of control issues and uncoordinated incident objectives.
ICS is composed of five major managerial functions (Figure 1) that are essential for large scale operations. They include: command, operations, planning, logistics and finance/administration. The command staff consists of an incident commander along with a safety officer, public information officer and agency liaison officer. A basic operating guideline is that the incident commander is responsible for all activities until command authority is transferred to another qualified individual. General staff members include section chiefs who head each module listed below command.
​Figure 1: Typical ICS structure
The modular organisation of the ICS allows first responders to gauge their efforts and apply the components of the ICS arrangement that best meet the demands of the incident. Complex incidents generally need all modules of the ICS established while less challenging events require only a few. Incidents involving a large geographical area under multi-agency jurisdictions, for example, need a more elaborate ICS structure than a small-scale occurrence involving a single jurisdiction. Another key aspect of an ICS that warrants mention is the development of an incident action plan (IAP) for the next operational period, usually 12- or 24-hours in length, which is submitted to the incident commander for approval. The development of an IAP helps focus available resources on the job at hand.
ICS is an international management tool that has been adopted beyond the USA in countries including but not limited to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. It is based upon proven management principles that contribute to its success.
ICS was introduced to South Africa in 2003 by Working on Fire and Kishugu, previously known as the Forest Fire Association (FFA) Group. Thousands of South Africans have now been trained in this disaster management system with the funding from USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and the US Forest Service (USFS). The following list represents some of the ICS management principles that are part of the curriculum taught by instructors:
In the 1980s, the US government moved ICS into a national programme named the National Incident Management System (NIMS). NIMS is a pre-emptive approach to guide governmental and nongovernmental (NGOs) public safety organisations and agencies at all levels, as well as the private sector, to work together seamlessly and manage incidents involving all hazards regardless of cause, size, location or complexity, in order to reduce loss of life, property and harm to the environment. It is applicable for use by emergency and disaster management agencies, fire departments, law enforcement, emergency medical services, urban search and rescue, utility companies, industrial facilities, land management corporations and many other groups both singularly or jointly.
NIMS training is now being phased in to the South Africa disaster response system in order to build a redundant capacity for handling disasters in South Africa. In the future, it is anticipated that NIMS will be expanded to other countries in southern Africa, as well.
In November 2015, NIMS and ICS trainings (Basic ICS and Intermediate ICS for Expanding Incidents) were delivered to a diverse group of selected individuals in the village of Cape St Francis, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
The courses were held in the same week as the devastating fire that occurred three years prior when more than 70 homes were destroyed. Attendees came from a wide array of organisations and agencies including: South Africa National Parks SANParks), Barkley East Fire Protection Association (FPA), Greater Stutterheim FPA, Thornhill FPA, Elands River FPA, Eastern Cape Umbrella FPA, Eskom, PG Bison Ugie, Baviaans Fire Services, Koukamma Local Municipality, Kouga Local Municipality, Nkonkobe Local Municipality, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality, Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR), Working on Fire and Nelson Mandela Bay Fire Department. Instructors were from the Eastern Cape Umbrella FPA, Kishugu - Working on Fire, United States Forest Service (USFS) and Fire Department of New York (FDNY).
The training was funded by the USAID/OFDA, University of the Freestate (USFS) and the Global Environment Facility’s Fynbos Fire Project’s special climate change fund.
During the week-long course, participants received management training in order to prepare themselves to manage future natural and human-made disasters. The USA visiting instructors, Chiefs Spadafora (FDNY) and Murphy (USFS) were able to utilise decades of past experience in overseeing large scale incidents in the United States including 9-11 (New York City, New York, USA) and Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) to supplement the lectures.
Incident management teams were formed and class members with experience in supervisory roles were designated as incident commanders. Teamwork, communication and the coordination of effort was emphasised. The goal of each team was to produce an incident action plan (IAP) for a complex simulated exercise (Emerald City flood). The Emerald City flood IAP contained general tactics to achieve goals and objectives within the overall strategy and provided important critical information about the incident including: organisational listing, assignments, resource status updates, communications plan, medical plan, safety plan and mapping.
Chief Murphy humorously refers to ICS as, “It’s common sense.” Quite frankly, however, it is. To successfully manage an incident requires a structure based upon tried and true module components that categorically confront situations and solve problems. ICS and NIMS facilitate a successful outcome of heroic efforts.
ICS is an international management tool that has been adopted beyond the USA in countries including but not limited to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. It is based upon proven management principles that contribute to its success.
ICS was introduced to South Africa in 2003 by Working on Fire and Kishugu, previously known as the Forest Fire Association (FFA) Group. Thousands of South Africans have now been trained in this disaster management system with the funding from USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and the US Forest Service (USFS). The following list represents some of the ICS management principles that are part of the curriculum taught by instructors:
- Area command
- Chain of command
- Common terminology
- Decision making process
- Delegation of Authority
- Establishment and transfer of command
- Incident action plan
- Information and intelligence management
- Integrated communications
- Management by objectives
- Modular organisation
- Resource management
- Span of control
- Unified command
- Unity of command
In the 1980s, the US government moved ICS into a national programme named the National Incident Management System (NIMS). NIMS is a pre-emptive approach to guide governmental and nongovernmental (NGOs) public safety organisations and agencies at all levels, as well as the private sector, to work together seamlessly and manage incidents involving all hazards regardless of cause, size, location or complexity, in order to reduce loss of life, property and harm to the environment. It is applicable for use by emergency and disaster management agencies, fire departments, law enforcement, emergency medical services, urban search and rescue, utility companies, industrial facilities, land management corporations and many other groups both singularly or jointly.
NIMS training is now being phased in to the South Africa disaster response system in order to build a redundant capacity for handling disasters in South Africa. In the future, it is anticipated that NIMS will be expanded to other countries in southern Africa, as well.
In November 2015, NIMS and ICS trainings (Basic ICS and Intermediate ICS for Expanding Incidents) were delivered to a diverse group of selected individuals in the village of Cape St Francis, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
The courses were held in the same week as the devastating fire that occurred three years prior when more than 70 homes were destroyed. Attendees came from a wide array of organisations and agencies including: South Africa National Parks SANParks), Barkley East Fire Protection Association (FPA), Greater Stutterheim FPA, Thornhill FPA, Elands River FPA, Eastern Cape Umbrella FPA, Eskom, PG Bison Ugie, Baviaans Fire Services, Koukamma Local Municipality, Kouga Local Municipality, Nkonkobe Local Municipality, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality, Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR), Working on Fire and Nelson Mandela Bay Fire Department. Instructors were from the Eastern Cape Umbrella FPA, Kishugu - Working on Fire, United States Forest Service (USFS) and Fire Department of New York (FDNY).
The training was funded by the USAID/OFDA, University of the Freestate (USFS) and the Global Environment Facility’s Fynbos Fire Project’s special climate change fund.
During the week-long course, participants received management training in order to prepare themselves to manage future natural and human-made disasters. The USA visiting instructors, Chiefs Spadafora (FDNY) and Murphy (USFS) were able to utilise decades of past experience in overseeing large scale incidents in the United States including 9-11 (New York City, New York, USA) and Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) to supplement the lectures.
Incident management teams were formed and class members with experience in supervisory roles were designated as incident commanders. Teamwork, communication and the coordination of effort was emphasised. The goal of each team was to produce an incident action plan (IAP) for a complex simulated exercise (Emerald City flood). The Emerald City flood IAP contained general tactics to achieve goals and objectives within the overall strategy and provided important critical information about the incident including: organisational listing, assignments, resource status updates, communications plan, medical plan, safety plan and mapping.
Chief Murphy humorously refers to ICS as, “It’s common sense.” Quite frankly, however, it is. To successfully manage an incident requires a structure based upon tried and true module components that categorically confront situations and solve problems. ICS and NIMS facilitate a successful outcome of heroic efforts.
The result of the Cape St Francis conflagration, which destroyed more than 70 homes three years prior to the training. Many of the homes have not been rebuilt
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Teamwork, communication and the coordination of effort was emphasised
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