What is the primary role of the Incident Commander?

• A. Fire Chief
• B. Unit Control Center
• C. The Incident Commander is responsible for all incident activities, including the development of strategies and tactics and the ordering and release of resources
• D. Emergency Operations Center

Answer: (C)

The key idea is that the Incident Commander on scene holds the overall authority for how the incident is handled. This person is responsible for all incident activities, from setting the incident objectives to choosing the overall strategy and tactics, and for deciding when and which resources are needed or released. That centralized, on-scene decision-making keeps actions coordinated, safe, and aligned with priorities as the situation evolves. While a Fire Chief might fill this role in some departments, the essential function is the command of incident operations itself, not a specific title. The Emergency Operations Center is a separate coordination facility used at higher levels of response, not the on-scene command, and “Unit Control Center” isn’t a standard ICS term.