NET Incident Command System (ICS) Forms
ICS forms provide a template to NET volunteers for documenting activities during a deployment. Though efforts to save life and property take priority over documentation, documenting activities is nonetheless important and should be a routine part of NET training, drills, and response. Documentation serves several crucial functions:
- Documentation passed on to other emergency responders will help them understand the status of resources, and allow them to deploy their own resources effectively and appropriately. Good documentation saves time, and therefore, lives.
- Liability exposure for volunteers will be documented.
- Communication will be improved between functional areas and between shifts.
- Thorough documentation facilitates reimbursements from FEMA.
The purpose of this NETwiki page is to:
- Clarify the responsibilities each team position in a deployment has for documenting activities.
- Specify what the recommended forms ICS forms are, and how they are used.
- Demonstrate how documentation "flows" through an incident response.
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It is accepted and understood that ICS forms are not required for documenting operations. In a pinch, a sheet of ordinary notebook paper will suffice, or the back of a paper plate. The benefit of the forms is that they guide NET volunteers to documenting the most relevant information and help them to accomplish their work. In this respect, ICS forms are not so much cumbersome paperwork as they are a helpful tool.
The Role of the Scribe
PBEM recommends that each Operations Plan anticipate the need for a “scribe” or even several scribes during NET operations. Otherwise, the responsibility of tracking forms and ensuring volunteers keep proper documentation falls to the Team Leader, which compromises her/his span of control.
Every NET has volunteers who are enthusiastic to serve but who do not feel physically ready to engage hands-on in search and rescue tasks such as cribbing, lifting, or other activities that require physical exertion. Acting as the scribe for the NET, therefore, is a great job for them. Ideally, these team members are identified in the NET’s Operations Plan and, as the designated scribe, make themselves familiar with the ICS forms and ICS framework. However, acting as a scribe is also a task that can be delegated to an SUV with little training.
Furthermore, PBEM recommends that a NET have at least one scribe for the NET Staging Area, and one scribe each for the functional teams conducting search and rescue operations. For example, a Team Leader deploys five NET volunteers to a community center after an earthquake to search for survivors. Four of those volunteers will do cribbing, victim carries, extrication, and so forth; the fifth volunteer is present to document the activities of the other four (and perhaps also communicate with the Staging Area via radio). In this way, the important work of documentation gets done without diverting the attention of those volunteers carrying out physical rescue activities.
Completed forms should never be thrown away. Forms serve as a response record and will be important when requesting reimbursement from FEMA.
Documentation Flow
The most important forms to a NET are forms 1 through 4, explained below. Forms 5 through 8 are designed to supplement work at specific stations (e.g. radio, medical, logistics, etc). Any form that is filled out and is no longer of use should be kept for the NET Coordinator.
Forms 1, 3, and 4 flow in a way that outlines an anticipated NET response (see Figure 1, next page). The first form, Damage Assessment, is used by NET volunteers transiting to the NET Staging Area; the form is used to record observed damage and other trouble spots along the way.
Form 3, the Team Leader Assignment Tracking Log, acts as a “dashboard” for the Team Leader. Working with his/her team, the TL transfers any potential area of response from Damage Assessment forms collected from the team onto the Tracking Log. This tool thereby helps the TL easily track each functional team deployed from the NET staging area.
Form 4, the Assignment Briefing, is filled out by the Team Leader when she/he is ready to deploy a functional team to respond to an item on the Tracking Log. On the front, the Assignment Log has spaces for giving the functional team the information they need to get to the scene quickly and safely. The functional team then records their response actions on the reverse side, and turn the form in to the Team Leader when they return to the NET staging area. The Team Leader reviews the reverse side, transferring relevant details to his/ her Tracking Log. The Assignment Briefing is then archived with the team’s Logistics section.
Optional: Tracking Numbers
As an option, NETs may use the tracking number spaces provided on some forms. Tracking numbers are not used with standard ICS forms; this is a NET embellishment.
Forms 2a through 5b provide a space for an arbitrarily assigned tracking number. Tracking numbers are for internal team use; therefore, a NET Team Leader can decide on whatever number convention works best (e.g. 0001, or simply “1”, etc).
Tracking numbers are intended as a means of connecting forms to each other where those forms are used on a specific mission; in other words, the tracking number is the same as a “mission number”. Assigning mission numbers may make it easier for teams and emergency professionals reviewing documents to connect events.
For example, let’s say that a Team Leader sends one functional team to conduct search and rescue in a house (tracking number #001) and another functional team to establish radio communication (tracking number 002). Any forms associated with those respective missions (e.g. a medical treatment log or an assignment briefing) will also include their mission tracking number. Later, when reviewing documents, a Team Leader knows that any document with the number “001” on it is associated with the house search and rescue mission.
NET ICS Form Instructions and Descriptions
NET Form 1: Damage Assessment Form
| NET Form 1: Damage Assessment Form | |
| Recommended kit: | 3 to each personal kit |
| Completed by: | Team Member |
| Turned in to: | Incident Team Leader |
| CERT/ICS Form equivalent: | CERT Form 1 |
| Last updated: | 2022.09.29 |
The Damage Assessment Form is the most basic and essential form in a volunteer’s kit. A volunteer uses the form to record damage observed in a neighborhood (such as fires, utility hazards, structural damage, injuries and casualties, and available access) while moving through the area to the NET Staging Area. Upon arriving at the NET Staging Area, the volunteer turns the Damage Assessment Form in to the Team Leader. The Team Leader then uses all the Damage Assessment Forms turned in to formulate and prioritize action plans (reflected on Form 4: Team Leader’s Assignment Tracking Log).
With insight from drills and exercises, NET volunteers redesigned this form to facilitate faster radio communications. Those redesigns are reflected below in Forms 1b-1, ib-2, and 1c. Use of these versions of the forms are optional, and to the discretion of an Incident Team Leader. If a volunteer does not feel certain which NET Form 1 to use, just use the original (highlighted in yellow in the table below).
| Form | Description | Thumbnail |
|---|---|---|
| NET ICS Form 1: Damage Assessment
PDF download options: |
This is the original NET Form 1 developed in February of 2017, and the one volunteers should use unless an Incident Team Leader (ITL) proscribes use of the variants offered below.
As noted to the left, volunteers can download a blank version of this form as well as a "mock" filled out version of the form to demonstrate how volunteers should complete the form. |
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| NET ICS Form 1b-1: | Volunteers may use this version in place of NET ICS Form 1: Damage Assessment if their Incident Team Leader approves.
This alternative offers offers similar categories of damage as the original Form 1 but they are represented by rows instead of columns. It has a column for tallying each type of damage and a column for recording the addresses where the damage was observed. This version may be an appropriate choice where there appears to be many cases of certain types of damage and the locations of such damage needs to be recorded quickly. For example, flooding created by a leaking water main. Designed by NET Radio Training Liaisons, released 2022.09.29. |
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| NET ICS Form 1b-2: | Volunteers may use this version in place of NET ICS Form 1: Damage Assessment if their Incident Team Leader approves.
Each row represents a dwelling and the columns represent categories of potential problems. It has a row at the bottom for totaling the number of each type of problem observed. This version might be the better choice when a team is making a visual inspection of a series of dwellings and want to record their assessment of each dwelling separately. Designed by NET Radio Training Liaisons, released 2022.09.29. |
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| NET ICS Form 1c: Team Situation Report with Totals | Form 1c is not an alternative version of NET ICS Form 1: Damage Assessment, but an accessory. It can be used to:
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| Formulario de Evaluación de Los Daños | This is a Spanish language version of the original CERT ICS Form 1: Damage Assessment, released by Los Angeles CERT. This Spanish version will be replaced with the NET version after it is translated. |  |
| CERT ICS Form 1: Damage Assessment | The original CERT ICS Form 1: Damage Assessment. NETs should avoid using this form unless specific circumstances make it necessary (e.g. embedding with a CERT that still uses this version). |  |
NET Form 2a: Personnel Check-In
| NET Form 2a: Personnel Check-In | |
| Recommended kit: | 1 per team members/team kit |
| Completed by: | Team Scribe/Logistics |
| Turned in to: | Team Scribe/Logistics |
| CERT/ICS Form equivalent: | CERT Form 2 |
| Last updated: | 2017.02.05 |
The Personnel Check-in form is used to record and track incoming CERT/NET as well as affiliated volunteers (e.g. ATVs) and SUVs. It helps the NET TL or the Logistics section understand:
- Who is on site
- When they arrived
- When/where they were assigned
- Personnel availability
SUVs should fill out NET Form 2B also. When and if assigned to a functional team or other responsibility, an SUV’s assignment should be tracked on Form 2A.
A space is provided for an Assignment Tracking Number if a volunteer is given a field assignment with a tracking number (see NET Form 4). If a volunteer works more than one assignment and the team uses tracking numbers for assignments, PBEM recommends checking a volunteer out of one assignment and then checking them in for the next assignment.
This form is used by a volunteer assigned to check other volunteers in. This could be the NET scribe or volunteer manager, but this is also an appropriate task for an SUV.
A special note on check out times: please be sure that all volunteers check out! A volunteer who does not check out is effectively “missing” and unaccounted for, which can lead to wasted time and resources locating the volunteer.
| Form | Description | Thumbnail |
|---|---|---|
| NET ICS Form 2a: Personnel Check-In
PDF download options: |
Standard NET ICS Form 2a. Use this form to sign in NET volunteers, SUVs, ATVs, and anyone else participating in a NET-managed command area. |  |
NET Form 2b: Spontaneous Volunteer Intake
| NET Form 2b: Spontaneous Volunteer Intake | |
| Recommended kit: | 30+/team kit |
| Completed by: | SUVs arriving on scene |
| Turned in to: | SUV Coordinator |
| CERT/ICS Form equivalent: | None |
| Last updated: | 2017.02.05 |
NETs can track spontaneous unaffiliated volunteers (SUVs) using NET Form 2A; however, in addition, NETs must intake SUVs using this form. This intake form reflects recommendations for managing SUVs as laid out in the NET Guidelines, Section 800.65. It also helps SUVs understand what may be expected of them during disaster response operations and helps protect the City from liability.
There are two sides to the form. The front side is a legal waiver and asks questions that will help a NET determine an SUV’s fitness for duty. The reverse side (shown to the right) is a skills and resources assessment intended to help a NET match the SUV to an appropriate assignment.
Note that the front side of Form 3 includes personal information which the NET should protect carefully. Access to these forms should be limited and controlled (for example, stored in a locking box).
