National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG)
Agency Administrator’s Guide to Critical Incident Management (PMS-926)

Intent of Guide

In 2008 a substantial revision of the NWCG publication Agency Administrator’s Guide to Critical Incident Management (PMS 926) was completed by the Safety and Health Working Team.

The guide is designed to assist Agency Administrators in dealing with critical incidents. A critical incident may be defined as a fatality, life threatening injury, or other event that can have serious long-term adverse effects on the agency, its employees and their families or the community. While fire incidents inspired this document it also has application to other types of critical incidents.

How to Obtain

This publication is web-based only (cannot be ordered hard-copy) and can be viewed and downloaded from http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/pubs/pubs.htm (select PMS 926).

How to Use

The guide contains a serious of checklists to guide and Agency Administrator, or their designee, through those difficult and chaotic days that follow a death, serious injury or other critical incident. The time to use it is now! Every office should ensure the BEFORE actions are initially completed and then reviewed and updated each year by a specific date.

It is recommended that as part of the BEFORE preparation, units insert specific local information into the worksheets (e.g. key contacts, phone numbers, additional steps based on local emergency plans, names of local employees and other who would be assigned specific responsibilities).