01
Response Planning
Develop or strengthen emergency procedures, roles, notifications, command relationships, staging concepts, and contingency actions.
Emergency Preparedness
Build capability before the emergency happens.
Marker 16 helps organizations develop practical response plans, test decision-making, identify resource gaps, and strengthen coordination before a real incident puts the system under pressure.
Plans should work under pressure.
Preparedness is more than having a binder on a shelf. It is knowing who does what, what resources are available, and how decisions will be made when time matters.
Preparedness That Holds Up
From planning to exercise to improvement.
Effective emergency preparedness requires more than a written plan. Organizations need clear command relationships, realistic resource assumptions, communication procedures, trained personnel, and exercises that expose weaknesses before an actual emergency does.
Marker 16 works with clients to build and test those systems in a way that reflects real staffing, equipment, access, operational limitations, and outside-resource dependencies.
02
Exercises
Tabletop, functional, and scenario-based exercises that test decisions, coordination, communications, and operational readiness.
03
ICS Integration
Align resources, responsibilities, communications, and specialized operational capabilities with Incident Command System principles.
04
Resource Matrices
Document what assets exist, who can operate them, what missions they can perform, and how quickly they can be mobilized.
05
After-Action Review
Identify what worked, what failed, what created delay or confusion, and what lessons should carry forward.
06
Corrective Actions
Turn exercise findings and incident lessons into specific actions, ownership, priorities, and measurable improvement.
01
Emergency Response Planning
Marker 16 helps clients develop practical plans that define responsibilities before an emergency begins. The goal is clarity, not complexity.
Emergency roles and responsibilities
Notification and escalation procedures
Command and reporting relationships
Staging and deployment concepts
Communications procedures
Accountability and tracking
Resource requests and outside assistance
Contingency planning for access or system failures
02
Tabletop & Functional Exercises
Exercises should force real decisions and reveal real gaps. Marker 16 develops scenarios that require participants to work through changing conditions, resource limitations, communications challenges, and operational consequences.
Scenario and inject development
Facilitated tabletop exercises
Functional response exercises
Leadership and command decision-making
Communications and accountability testing
Resource coordination and deployment decisions
Mutual-aid and outside-assistance triggers
Exercise documentation and evaluation
03
Incident Command System Integration
Specialized resources are most effective when they operate inside a clear command structure. Marker 16 helps organizations align personnel, equipment, and operational functions with Incident Command System concepts.
Command structure and span of control
Operational group or branch assignments
Resource check-in and accountability
Mission assignments and reporting requirements
Communications integration
Staging and deployment authority
Transition between response phases
Demobilization and resource release
04
Resource & Capability Matrices
One of the most common preparedness failures is assuming a resource exists without documenting who controls it, who can operate it, what it can safely do, or how long it takes to arrive.
Asset and equipment inventory
Qualified operator identification
Mission capability and limitations
Mobilization and response times
Communications capability
Fuel, maintenance, and logistical support
Deployment authority and ownership
Mutual-aid and external-resource availability
A Better Exercise Standard
Exercises should expose weaknesses, not hide them.
The purpose of an exercise is not to prove the plan is perfect. It is to identify what would slow the response, confuse personnel, limit capability, or create unnecessary risk.
01
Define the objectiveIdentify what decisions, systems, and capabilities need to be tested.
02
Build realistic conditionsUse scenarios that reflect actual staffing, equipment, terrain, access, and operational limitations.
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Force meaningful decisionsIntroduce changing information and resource constraints that require participants to act.
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Capture lessonsDocument delays, confusion, strengths, gaps, and decisions that need follow-up.
05
Turn findings into actionAssign corrective actions, ownership, priority, and follow-through.
Resource Readiness
Know what you actually have before you need it.
Marker 16 develops practical resource matrices that help leadership and responders understand what assets are available, who can deploy them, what limitations exist, and where gaps remain.
A useful resource matrix may include:
- Asset type and ownership
- Qualified operators or assigned personnel
- Primary and secondary missions
- Passenger, patient, equipment, or payload capability
- Communications and navigation capability
- Mobilization time and availability
- Launch, staging, access, or tow requirements
- Fuel, maintenance, and logistical dependencies
- Operational limitations
- Authorization required for deployment
After the Exercise or Incident
Lessons only matter if they change something.
After-Action Review
Document strengths, weaknesses, decision points, delays, communication problems, resource gaps, and other lessons from the exercise or incident.
Corrective-Action Plan
Convert findings into specific actions with assigned ownership, priority, expected completion, and a method for verifying the issue was actually corrected.
Continuous Improvement
Use lessons learned to update plans, training, equipment, procedures, resource assumptions, and future exercise objectives.
Prepare Before It Matters
Need to test your emergency plan or build one that works?
Marker 16 can help evaluate your current readiness, identify capability gaps, build practical response tools, and design exercises that test the decisions your organization may actually face.