GlossaryEmergency management
Strike team
A strike team is an organized group of a specified number of resources of the same kind and type, with common communications and a leader.
A strike team is an organized group of a specified number of resources of the same kind and type, with common communications and a leader. It provides a defined package for incident work. The term does not mean a fixed number of vehicles in every context or guarantee that each listed resource is currently available.
Reading a resource description
The FEMA NIMS framework defines the shared kind, type, leadership, and communications features within incident resource organization.
The resource order or assignment identifies the actual composition. A public update that says “one strike team” does not, by itself, supply the number of personnel. Vehicles, staffing per vehicle, and the team's definition need to be considered separately.
Example
Hypothetical example: An incident receives a strike team of engines meeting the same specified resource type, with a designated leader. A later update says the team has been assigned to a geographic division.
The first statement describes the organized resource package. The second describes its assignment. Neither statement alone provides a count of properties protected, fires extinguished, or people rescued. Those are outcomes requiring separate records.
Common confusion
A task force can combine different resources for a particular tactical need. A strike team groups resources of the same kind and type. Similar names in a local organization chart do not erase that distinction.
A strike team is also different from the incident management team, which supplies incident-management personnel rather than the same operational resource package.
Definition and local use
Read the applicable typing definition and resource order before translating a team count into apparatus or staffing totals. This page uses NIMS/NWCG incident-management terminology. A police initiative or another program may use “strike team” informally with a different composition and purpose.