At a hazardous materials emergency, the Operations Section serves the task of which of the following?

• A. Establishing incident objectives.
• B. Controlling and overseeing equipment and personnel inventories.
• C. Controlling the tactical portion of the incident.
• D. Coordinating all medical and health concerns at the incident.

Answer: (C)

In the Incident Command System, the Operations Section is the on-scene arm that carries out the tactical response. For a hazmat incident, this means directing and performing the actual actions needed to stabilize the situation: containment of the release, control of the area, execution of decontamination, and the on-the-ground tasks of responders. They translate the Incident Commander's objectives into field actions and adjust tactics as conditions change, always focusing on safety and effective control of the incident.

Establishing incident objectives is the role of Command. Controlling and overseeing equipment and personnel inventories falls under the Logistics/Resource Management side, which handles supply, deployment, and accountability. Coordinating all medical and health concerns is handled by the Medical Unit within Planning, not the Operations Section.