In incident management, Unified Command is used under which condition?

• A. When there is no lead agency.
• B. When the incident is over.
• C. When there is a single agency with incident jurisdiction.
• D. When there is more than one agency with incident jurisdiction.

Answer: (D)

Unified Command is used when more than one agency has incident jurisdiction or involvement. In those situations, representatives from all affected agencies work under a single, coordinated command structure to set shared objectives, agree on strategies, and produce one incident action plan. This keeps actions aligned across agencies, prevents conflicting directions, and allows resources to be allocated efficiently while each agency maintains its own authority within the unified framework. If only one agency has jurisdiction, a single command is sufficient; Unified Command is not needed in that case.