What is the first step in making plans to manage an emergency incident?

• A. Perform size-up
• B. Establish personnel accountability
• C. Establish command
• D. Transmit/receive the initial report

Answer: (A)

Size-up is the first step in making plans to manage an emergency incident. It provides the essential situational awareness you need to understand what you’re dealing with— hazards, conditions, number of people at risk, potential for changes, access and egress, and environmental factors. With that information, you can set initial priorities (typically life safety first), estimate what resources will be needed, and shape the initial incident objectives and actions. Everything that comes after—establishing command, assigning roles, coordinating communications, and safety measures like accountability—rests on having a clear picture from the size-up.

Transmitting or receiving the initial report is a communications task that conveys what’s happening, but it doesn’t by itself establish the plan. Establishing personnel accountability is a safety practice that becomes critical once responders are on scene and moving, and it depends on the situation understood through size-up.