Organisation at an Incident - Sectorisation

Operations often take place in more than one location during an incident for example, at the front and rear of a building. In such cases the incident commander’s span of control may only be limited.

Where an incident commander has the ability to monitor tasks by moving around the incident ground it is unlikely that sectors are needed. However, if the incident commander is unable to effectively manage operations and supervise safety at more than one location, then sectorisation should be considered.

Sectors should only be used when necessary and commanders should keep the structure as simple as possible. This is to reduce the possibility of barriers to information flow between crews and the incident commander.