The ICS 213
General Message Form

History
The ICS 213 General Message Form was originally designed as a multipart self-copying form for use as an interoffice memo. Since its inception, both the usage and physical embodiment have changed significantly.

Usage
The ICS 213 General Message Form is now increasingly used for messages between parties who are not in the same location. Because the nature of incident communications is generally urgent, the form is often originated in one location and transmitted electronically to another location. The reply from that location is returned electronically and the two "parts" of the form are matched together.

Physical Embodiment
Because of the General Message Form's increased usage between physically distant locations, the information for an ICS 213 General Message Form is often transcribed onto a blank form or entered electronically via a computer word processing program.
 

Incident Messaging continues to evolve...

Just as the Incident Command System itself is adaptable to management of any type of incident, the means and modes of Incident Messaging and message documentation and transmission are being adapted to encompass emerging needs and best practices. The growing prevalence of ICS 213 in emergency communications means all emcomm personnel need to stay up-to-date on these developments. This site will continue to track those changes.