Who has overall authority and responsibility for conducting all incident activities including development of strategies and distribution of resources at the incident site?

• A. First responders (FR)
• B. Crisis action team (CAT)
• C. Incident commander (IC)
• D. Emergency operations center (EOC)

Answer: (C)

On the incident site, a single person holds overall authority for all actions, sets the incident objectives and strategies, and directs how resources are deployed. This on-scene leader is the Incident Commander, who remains the ultimate decision-maker for safety, coordination, and day-to-day operations, while coordinating with support roles as needed.

External bodies like an Emergency Operations Center provide strategic support from off the ground and assist with resource allocation and policy-level decisions, but they do not control the on-scene actions. A Crisis Action Team operates at a higher organizational level to guide policy and broad actions, not to manage every field activity. First responders are crucial for implementing tasks, yet they operate under the Incident Commander’s direction rather than holding overall authority for the entire incident.