Essentials in Emergency Management examines the Incident Command System (ICS), the new presidential directive dealing with the National Incident Management Systems (NIMS), and the new emergency management concept called the all-hazards approach—the idea that a community's emergency plan follows the same philosophies and actions no matter what the emergency situation—used by most communities, the states, and the federal government. This new handbook also discusses how to manage volunteers and deal with pets in disaster situations and looks at what the rest of the world is doing with respect to emergency management.