Planning P The leg of the “P” describes the initial stages of an incident, when personnel work to gain awareness of the situation and establish the organization for incident management. Incident personnel perform the steps in the leg of the “P” only one time. Once they are accomplished, incident management shifts into a cycle of planning and operations, informed by ongoing situational awareness and repeated each operational period. Initial Response and Assessment - The responder(s) who is first to arrive at the incident scene conducts the initial assessment and takes whatever immediate response actions are appropriate and possible. Agency Administrator Briefing - The Agency Administrator Briefing is a presentation to the personnel who will be managing or supporting the incident by the administrator or other senior official of the jurisdiction, agency, or organization affected by the incident. Incident Briefing - The incident briefing marks the transition from reactive to proactive incident management. Initial Unified Command Meeting - If a Unified Command is managing the incident, the Initial Unified Command Meeting allows members of the Unified Command to meet in private to discuss each jurisdiction or organization’s priorities and objectives as well as any limitations, concerns, and restrictions. Objectives Development/Update - The Incident Commander or Unified Command establishes the incident objectives for the initial operational period. After the initial operational period, the Incident Commander or Unified Command reviews the incident objectives and may validate them, modify them, or develop new objectives. Strategy Meeting/Command and General Staff Meeting - After developing or revising the incident objectives, the Incident Commander or Unified Command typically meets with the Command and General Staff, and sometimes others, to discuss the incident objectives and provide direction. Preparing for the Tactics Meeting - Once the approach to achieving or working toward achieving the incident objectives is determined, the Operations Section Chief and staff prepare for the Tactics Meeting by developing tactics and determining the resources that will be applied during the operational period. Tactics Meeting - The Tactics Meeting is a forum for key players to review the proposed tactics developed by the Operations Section staff and to conduct planning for resource assignments. Preparing for the Planning Meeting - Following the Tactics Meeting, preparations begin for the Planning Meeting. Planning Meeting - The Planning Meeting serves as a final review and approval of operational plans and resource assignments developed during and after the Tactics Meeting. IAP Preparation and Approval - Based on concurrence from all elements at the end of the Planning Meeting, the Incident Commander or Unified Command approves the plan. After this final approval, the Planning Section staff assemble the plan and ensure that it is ready for use during the Operational Period Briefing. Operational Period Briefing - Each operational period starts with an Operational Period Briefing. Following the Operational Period Briefing, supervisors brief their assigned personnel on their respective assignments as documented in the IAP.