The IAP is a written plan that sets forth the incident objectives and reflects the tactics necessary to manage an incident during an operational period. It addresses many critical areas across the whole community. The IAP provides essential information regarding incident organization, work assignments, resources, and safety-all of which are driven by the incident objectives.

Incident objectives drive response and recovery activities and answer the question of what must be accomplished. Good incident objectives:

• Are concise and stated in the form of a command
• Begin with an action verb (but not "continue" or "maintain")
• Provide actionable guidance for the Operations Section
• Address incident operations not administrative and internal support activities