The MDERS Steering Committee and stakeholder members requested additional ICS capability development at all levels. After Action Reports (AARs) from large-scale regional incidents and twelve Complex Coordinated Attack and ICS workshops led by MDERS staff in 2017 document this need. The after action reports from these workshops cite the need for additional operational coordination at the interagency and interdisciplinary level to enhance emergency response. Utilization of the unified command (UC) structure increases interdisciplinary communication between response partners. AARs document this as an area for improvement, and emphasize the importance of the incident command capability to ensure safety and accountability of personnel.

The ICS capability development consists of numerous smaller projects to support the overall established gap to implement and enhance the usage of ICS by all MDERS stakeholder agencies. The significant scope of this capability involves all agencies in an interjurisdictional and interagency approach. All projects are designed to include the interoperability required to support this vast scope.

For more information please contact Hannah Thomas at hannah.thomas1@Maryland.gov