The 4th technical meeting of the WACOM project partners was held on January 29, 2021 online. At the meeting the Incident Command System (ICS) was presented for the potential use to harmonize the incident response to floods and accidental pollution in the Sava river Basin.

By definition the ICS is a standardized on-scene emergency management construct specifically designed to provide for the adoption of an integrated organizational structure that reflects the complexity and demands of single or multiple incidents, without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries. It is the combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure, designed to aid in the management of resources during incidents. It might be used for all kinds of emergencies and is applicable to small as well as large and complex incidents.

ICS consists of a standard management hierarchy and procedures for managing temporary incident(s) of any size. ICS procedures should be pre-established and sanctioned by participating authorities, and personnel should be well-trained prior to an incident. ICS includes procedures to select and form temporary management hierarchies to control funds, personnel, facilities, equipment, and communications. Personnel are assigned according to established standards and procedures previously sanctioned by participating authorities. ICS is a system designed to be used or applied from the time an incident occurs until the requirement for management and operations no longer exist.

ICS is interdisciplinary and organizationally flexible to meet the following management challenges:

• To meet the needs of a jurisdiction to cope with incidents of any kind or complexity (i.e. it expands or contracts as needed).
• To allows personnel from a wide variety of agencies to meld rapidly into a common management structure with common terminology.
• To provide logistical and administrative support to operational staff.
• To be cost effective by avoiding duplication of efforts and continuing overhead.
• To Provide a unified, centrally authorized emergency organization.

The ICS has already been adapted to national requirements in Slovenia. The project partners agreed to investigate if the national institutions of the other Sava countries would be interested to adapt their national procedure, especially in the part where the procedure should be harmonized because of transboundary emergency events.

After the discussion on ICS the status on development of modeling of the Sava River was presented.

The project partners were also informed on the activities on the Work Package 3- verify joint preparedness and response has already started. In scope of this WP the pilot actions in form of table-top exercise will be implemented. The main objectives are to evaluate, improve and establish the concept and procedures of training courses for incident commanders, response units and command staff. It will also improve the cooperation and interoperability of all stakeholders in the transnational accidents and floods.