Lead Agency, Support Agency and Unified Control A lead agency is the agency with a mandate to manage the response to an incident through legislation, under protocols, by agreement, or because it has the expertise and experience. The lead agency is responsible for ensuring arrangements and plans are in place prior to incidents where they will have the lead however relevant support agencies should be involved in the development of these. The lead agency establishes control to coordinate the response of all agencies involved. The lead agency may change between risk reduction, readiness, response, and recovery. It may also change as the incident progresses, if the required authority or expertise changes. If a state of emergency is declared CDEM may continue to act in a supporting role and the lead agency may remain in control. This would be done through mutual agreement between the two agencies. When the lead agency cannot be readily identified, response agencies may adopt a joint ‘Unified Control’ structure (see below). The general assignment of lead agency status is as shown in Table 8. A support agency is an agency that provides support to the lead agency in a response. The lead agency tasks and coordinates support agencies’ resources and actions. The type of incident determines which support agencies are involved, and these agencies may change as the response progresses. Support agencies often have statutory responsibilities and specific objectives of their own, which the lead agency needs to accommodate. Integration of support agencies into the response is a fundamental responsibility of lead agencies. Unified control is when the control of an incident is shared between two or more agencies by agreement through a combined decision-making body. The command appointments for each agency establish an agreed concept of operations and a single Action Plan. Unified control is usually applied when: more than one agency has a mandate to manage a particular incident it is unclear if any agency is the lead, or the lead agency determines that a joint approach will be more effective. Agencies applying unified control establish a joint coordination centre (CC), with key appointments filled by the most appropriate personnel from any agency. Agency command appointments do not have to be present at all times, but need to come together to agree on key decisions. Other than a combined control function, the joint CC follows usual CIMS practices. CDEM Volunteers Retaining volunteers has become one of the significant challenges facing emergency response organisations. Marlborough CDEM is heavily reliant on using the FENZ Volunteer Rural Fire Forces, who number approximately 260 individuals, as the bulk of its initial response capability. Each member has an Individual Employment Contract with Fire and Emergency New Zealand which sets out their conditions and expectations of their role. The reason for this level of formality is that they can be paid for fighting wild fires under certain conditions. Rural Fire Fighters are also expected to have been assessed as competent in a number of different skill sets depending on their role at a fire. At times they are also expected to have completed a rigorous fitness test. VRFF members are not paid to respond to CDEM emergencies. The CDEM volunteers (Civil Defence Centre and Marlborough Emergency Response Team members) are unpaid and there are currently no requirements to hold unit standards in emergency management tasks. They are given training which is specific to their roles including working around helicopters and four-wheel driving. Numbers of volunteers in these services has increased in Marlborough and it can be put down to a few key things. These are: Challenging training and exercising that is relevant and similar to the real events. Marlborough Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan, 2017-2022 Page 46