Now that you have defined the nature and magnitude of the incident and understand the hazards and safety concerns that you are faced with, you can start determining priorities and resources.

Let’s start by reviewing two of the NIMS Management Characteristics that apply to determining priorities:

• Management by Objectives: Identify response priorities and objectives and define the resources required to achieve the objectives. This is a key activity that must be documented.
• Incident Action Planning: incident objectives, tactics and assignments for operations and support are recorded and communicated through an Incident Action Plan (IAP). While this may not start as an extensive written document early in a response, as incidents increase in size, complexity, and length, it is increasingly important to document incident response activities.