INCIDENT REPORT vs. UNIT REPORT – Who is in charge?

Incident reports are for reporting what happened on the INCIDENT.  It is written by the Officer in Charge (Incident Commander) and, yes, every incident has an Incident Commander (even a single EMS unit response). The report may include information such as:

• Description of the scene
• Explanation of the situation
• Incident priorities
• Strategic objectives
• Incident Action Plan
• Key incident command assignments or the Command structure
• Significant events that occurred
• Other agencies involved in the response
• Incident outcome

Unit reports are for reporting the details as they relate to a specific UNIT.  It is written by the Unit Officer and may include information such as:

• Apparatus positioning
• Observations made by unit personnel
• Information provided to Command by the unit
• Assignments, tasks, or orders received from Command
• Actions taken by the unit
• Results of actions taken
• Explanation or justifications for actions
• Unique circumstances encountered
• Disposition of personnel, apparatus, and/or equipment

Also, it is important to point out that when you get on the scene of any incident, and you place the responding unit(s) in service, you automatically become the Incident Commander, even if you were not originally dispatched on the call.  For example, while driving to the PSTA on a training detail, you come across a PIC that other units have been dispatched to, but you determine that it is a PDC and you clear all of the responding units.  You just became the Incident Commander.  If you make the decision to clear the assignment, you are now the only one who knows the situation that was found on the call, and why the decision was made to place the other units in service, so you are now responsible for documenting that information on the Incident Report.