At many routine events, every resource requested is generally needed immediately, with few, if any, resources to hold in reserve. Units operating at an incident will soon find themselves in need of rehabilitation, medical evaluation, air exchange and other equipment replacement. Where should these support services occur -- in the staging area or at the incident base?

In the National Interagency Management System’s ICS glossary, “Base” is defined as “the location at which primary logistics functions for an incident are coordinated and administered. There is only one Base per incident.”

The “Staging Area” is defined as “locations set up at an incident where resources can be placed while awaiting a tactical assignment. Staging Areas are managed by the Operations Section.”

Establishment of an incident base is important is the NIMS concept that “out of service resources are assigned to base.” Units are considered out of service for staffing, mechanical, rest or staffing reasons. In many routine incidents, especially those where SCBAs are used, the place where extra SCBA bottles are is where firefighters will congregate to have these needs addressed. The replacement of the second air bottle should occur in an area where a firefighter can be adequately rehabbed. This function should occur in the medical unit of the logistics section, which should be located at base.

At a house fire, there is rarely a need for a “logistics section chief,” but NFPA 1500 requires an on-site minimum of basic life support for the rehab, thus BLS should be assigned as the medical unit, and report directly to the Base Manager. Members assigned to the portable-air unit can easily function as base managers at small incidents, or the members of the BLS crew can handle “medical” under the base function.

There are clear differences in the function of base and staging:

• Base is designed specifically to care for the needs of responders. It is where the medical, food and communications functions at an incident are to be placed.
• Staging is to provide only minimal support functions to those resources that are immediately ready for deployment.
  

Though situations such as high-rise incidents require more support in the staging area, small residential incidents rarely require significant support in the staging area. Rather, the misinterpretation of the difference between base and staging sometimes carries over into larger more dynamic events.

If the national preparedness goal of “institutionalizing” NIMS into an organization is to be effective, consistent use of common NIMS terminology is extremely important. Understanding of individual elements of the NIMS is critical to creating the type of “second nature” necessary to provide the level of overall safety for responders.

To address this issue requires that members understand the principles listed in I-200, Basic ICS Training (available online through the National Emergency Training Center Virtual Campus.) Additionally, training on how to establish a base should be a part of any course of study intended to prepare members to serve in incident management during the initial stages of the incident.

I. David Daniels is fire chief of the Fulton County (Ga.) Fire Department, a metro department surrounding the city of Atlanta. He holds a masters degree in human resources management and is certified as a Safety and Health Specialist and Fire Service Health & Safety Officer. Chief Daniels is chair of the International Association of Fire Chiefs’  Health and Safety Committee.