Incident Strategic Alignment Process (ISAP)

In the past, the Incident Management Teams, Agency Administrators, and fire management organizations called to respond to wildfires or all-hazard incidents relied on different approaches and products to assess and communicate about risk on an incident. The lack of common tools and processes contributed to inefficient transitions between teams, communication challenges across groups and levels of decision making, and sometimes friction and frustration.

The Incident Strategic Alignment Process (ISAP) represents an effort by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group to address these obstacles and build a common process and toolkit that translates across complex incidents nationwide. Since 2023, an interagency task group has developed ISAP standards and continue to refine associated materials and processes through implementation on wildfire incidents.

What is ISAP? 

ISAP is a collaborative approach for Incident Management Teams and Agency Administrators to develop, discuss, and communicate response strategy during wildland fire and all-hazard incidents. The process facilitates dialogue, so Incident Management Teams and Agency Administrators develop a shared understanding of priorities, strategy, risk, and actions. It fosters clarity, so decision makers can easily answer the following questions and therefore communicate more effectively across levels of incident responders:

1. Why are we here? Decision makers identify, assess, and rate the critical values at risk so it's clear which values to prioritize.
2. What are we doing, and how are we going to do it? Decision makers develop a strategy, which guides management actions throughout the duration of an incident.
3. Should we do it? Decision makers assess the risk associated with strategic actions, and they define how much risk to values and responders they consider acceptable. They also determine who shares responsibility for the outcomes.
4. Can we be successful? Decision makers assess the probability of success, what it will take to be successful, and any potential obstacles that could lead to failure. They determine if everyone is in alignment and agrees to move forward with implementation of the plan.

The Incident Strategic Alignment Process can be used with individual agencies as well as on incidents involving multiple agencies.

The following StoryMap provides a more detailed overview of the ISAP approach; the four pillars of the approach (critical values at risk, strategy and strategic actions, responder risk, and probability of success) and their associated processes, tools, recommended participants, and materials; and how ISAP applies to decision makers in different roles: Agency Administrators, Unit Fire Managers, Incident Management Team members, and Incident Responders. It also includes sections with frequently asked questions, tools and tips, reference materials and tutorials, and support contacts.

Purpose

The Incident Strategic Alignment Process (ISAP) is a structured yet flexible approach to collaboratively develop, discuss, and communicate risk and strategy during wildfire and all-hazard incident response. It incorporates best practices, science-backed risk analytics, and clear guidance to support Incident Management Teams and Agency Administrators to lead as safely, effectively, and efficiently as possible.

Overview and Applicability