Earlier in this course, we covered that every incident will at least have an Incident Commander (IC). The IC is always required. An Incident Command is best implemented for an incident that requires one discipline, such as firefighting, and is located in one jurisdiction (Walsh, 2005). Generally, Incident Commands are used for emergencies that are more localized and that are not as complex in nature. A Unified Command is more appropriate than an Incident Command once an incident becomes more complex, or the incident spans across multiple jurisdictions. In the Unified Command construct, multiple Incident Commands work together to maximize efforts and resources across multiple disciplines and jurisdictions to respond to the emergency (Walsh, 2005). The Unified Command is comprised of several Incident Commands and it provides the Incident Command System (ICS) structure across the different Incident Commands. The best way to delineate between Unified and Incident Commands is that the Incident Command focuses on one problem in one location, and a Unified Command focuses on several problems across several different locations.
An interesting example of the application of a Unified Command is the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, also known as the BP oil spill in 2010. In April of 2010, an explosion on an offshore oilrig in the Gulf of Mexico caused hundreds of millions of gallons of oil to be dispersed into the ocean. A Unified Command was appropriate due to the several disciplines that would be required to respond to the explosion and oil spill, as well as the oil affecting several jurisdictions. The Unified Command was not as effective as it could have been because some players were very familiar with the Unified Command construct, while others were not familiar at all (McKay, 2010). The operation is likely to struggle if everyone is not on the same page. The Unified Command construct is only effective if everyone is ‘unified’. Officials from BP, as well as some officials from government agencies, to include local government officials, were not familiar with Unified Commands and their inexperience was a detriment to the overall operation (McKay, 2010).
There is definitely room for improvement when it comes to the application of a Unified Command for the Deepwater Horizon incident. The purpose of a Unified Command is for different organizations to work together to identify ways to best utilize resources to conduct the operation. Many of the organizations in the local area that typically deal with Unified Commands due to hurricanes were very comfortable with the Unified Command; however, throwing BP into the mix created confusion as to who was actually in charge of the operation (McKay, 2010). Eventually, the incident was controlled, and the oil leak was stopped. The Unified Command could have been more successful if key positions were identified sooner and everyone knew exactly how the Unified Command construct applied to this incident. I would say that the Unified Command was effective for this incident because of the outcome; however, there is definitely room for improvement and things could have been handled differently/better.
References
McKay, J. (2010, September 13). Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Prompts Debate on NIMS, Unified Response. Retrieved July 28, 2016, from http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/Gulf-Oil-Spill-Debate-NIMS-Unified-Response.html
Walsh, D. W. (2005). National incident management system: Principles and practice (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
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