Is a Planning Section Chief supposed to be at the opening event briefing?

[N6RVT]

I have not yet risen to this level, (still just an AOBD) but looking at it from a logical viewpoint, I do not understand why the PSC is at the general briefing at the start of an operational period.

Plans is supposed to be involved in the NEXT operational period, not this one.  Yet every exercise I have been to the PSC does a briefing and it sounds to me like its all stuff the OSC should be saying.  According to FEMA:

"The Planning Section Chief announces the next planning meeting and operational period briefing, then adjourns the meeting"

And that is it, maybe 30 seconds of stuff.  Sounds like all the PSC is supposed to do is come out at the very end and announce when and where the planning for the next operational period will be.

How does NESA teach this?

[NovemberWhiskey]

I'm not sure what NESA teaches but ...

I've seen this written both ways in FEMA documentation; sometimes it says the Operations Section Chief runs the briefing, other times it says the Planning Section Chief sets the agenda and facilitates it. I guess the theory on having the PSC run it is that it's fundamentally a briefing on the IAP for the new period.

In either case, the Planning Section is involved, because the Situation Unit (yeah I know that's not generally a thing in CAP) sits in the Planning Section and is supposed to be able to represent the most up-to-date incident information.

[sardak]

The direct answer to your question Is a Planning Section Chief supposed to be at the opening event briefing? is yes. And the PSC is supposed to be at follow-on briefings, too.

Being a card-carrying PSC outside of CAP, the basic jobs of the PSC at the ops briefing are as facilitator and traffic cop.  Here are two PSC checklists for the Ops Briefing.  Source documents are from the Coast Guard and FEMA.

OPERATIONS BRIEFING AGENDA
1. PSC opens briefing, covers ground rules, agenda, and takes roll call of Command and General Staff and Operations personnel required to attend.
2. PSC reviews IC/UC objectives and changes to the IAP (e.g., pen and ink changes).
3. IC/UC provides remarks.
4. SITL conducts Situation Briefing.
5. OSC discusses current response actions and accomplishments.
6. OSC briefs Operations Section personnel.
7. LSC covers transport, communications and supply updates.
8. FSC covers fiscal issues.
9. PIO covers public affairs and public information issues, LOFR covers interagency issues.
10. SOFR provides a safety briefing.
11. PSC solicits final comments and adjourns briefing.
--------------
Operations Briefing
This 30-minute or less briefing presents the Incident Action Plan to the Operations Section Supervisors.

PSC Readiness for Operations Briefing Checklist
□ Ensure that all materials are prepared and available to support the briefing
□ Ensure the briefing area is properly prepared to conduct the briefing
□ Ensure the Command and General Staff have prepared focused talking points
□ Make sure the necessary displays and/or audio visuals are in place and ready to meet the OSC's needs
□ Ensure the last minute IAP changes/corrections are identified and ready to be briefed
□ Ensure the SITL brief is focused towards the DIVS needs
□ Control access to the briefing area and ensure that staff respect the time of the attendees. The briefing should be very targeted and concise
-----------------------
And from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group

Schedule and conduct operational period briefings
o   30 minutes or less
o   Incident objectives (Incident Commander or Planning Section Chief)
o   Current situation (Operations Section Chief)
o   Weather information (Incident Meteorologist or Fire Behavior Analyst)
o   Fire behavior (Fire Behavior Analyst)
o   Work assignments (Operations Section Chief)
o   Air operations summary (Air Operations Branch Director)
o   Safety message (Safety Officer)
o   Other applicable information (e.g., Logistics, Finance,Planning, Information, Liaison, Resource Advisors, Agency Representatives)
o   Changes from the written IAP
o   Incident Commander's remarks

Mike

[N6RVT]

OPERATIONS BRIEFING AGENDA
1. PSC opens briefing, covers ground rules, agenda, and takes roll call of Command and General Staff and Operations personnel required to attend.
2. PSC reviews IC/UC objectives and changes to the IAP (e.g., pen and ink changes).
3. IC/UC provides remarks.
4. SITL conducts Situation Briefing.
5. OSC discusses current response actions and accomplishments.
6. OSC briefs Operations Section personnel.
7. LSC covers transport, communications and supply updates.
8. FSC covers fiscal issues.
9. PIO covers public affairs and public information issues, LOFR covers interagency issues.
10. SOFR provides a safety briefing.
11. PSC solicits final comments and adjourns briefing.
--------------
Operations Briefing
This 30-minute or less briefing presents the Incident Action Plan to the Operations Section Supervisors.

PSC Readiness for Operations Briefing Checklist
□ Ensure that all materials are prepared and available to support the briefing
□ Ensure the briefing area is properly prepared to conduct the briefing
□ Ensure the Command and General Staff have prepared focused talking points
□ Make sure the necessary displays and/or audio visuals are in place and ready to meet the OSC's needs
□ Ensure the last minute IAP changes/corrections are identified and ready to be briefed
□ Ensure the SITL brief is focused towards the DIVS needs
□ Control access to the briefing area and ensure that staff respect the time of the attendees. The briefing should be very targeted and concise
-----------------------
And from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group

Schedule and conduct operational period briefings
o 30 minutes or less
o Incident objectives (Incident Commander or Planning Section Chief)
o Current situation (Operations Section Chief)
o Weather information (Incident Meteorologist or Fire Behavior Analyst)
o Fire behavior (Fire Behavior Analyst)
o Work assignments (Operations Section Chief)
o Air operations summary (Air Operations Branch Director)
o Safety message (Safety Officer)
o Other applicable information (e.g., Logistics, Finance,Planning, Information, Liaison, Resource Advisors, Agency Representatives)
o Changes from the written IAP
o Incident Commander's remarks

Mike

Thank you very much for this.  I could not logically come up with a reason for the PSC to be the one actually running the meeting, what I usually see is the IC doing the opening part.  This is my next step up and until I understood it better I wasn't willing to even OJT for it, I was going to wait 11 months and go to NESA.  Which I'm actually still planning to do.

I finally got useful information off CAPTALK that wasn't fashion related.

[SARDOC]

Another thing to consider is to remember that this opening briefing is done at the beginning of the operational period.  Some would say it's the outgoing PSC, (the one that created the plan) is briefing the oncoming shift including the new PSC who will want the Situational Awareness of the current operational period in order to understand where they need to start the plan for the next operational period.