Incident objectives, strategies, and tactics are three fundamental pieces of a successful incident response.

• Incident objectives state what will be accomplished.
• Strategies establish the general plan or direction for accomplishing the incident objectives.
• Tactics specify how the strategies will be executed.

For example:

• Objective: Stop the spread of hazardous materials from a tractor-trailer accident into the river by 1800 today.
• Strategy: Employ barriers.
• Tactic: Use absorbent damming materials to construct a barrier between the downhill side of the accident scene and Murkey Creek.

The Incident Commander is responsible for establishing goals and selecting strategies. The Operations Section, if it is established, is responsible for determining appropriate tactics for an incident.