"Recognizing the continuing challenges occurring in the fire service in applying a common approach to incident command, the National Fire Service Incident Management System (IMS) Consortium was created in 1990. Its purpose was to evaluate an approach to developing a single command system. The consortium consisted of many individual fire service leaders, representatives of most major fire service organizations and representatives of federal, state and local agencies, including FIRESCOPE and the Phoenix Fire Department. One of the significant outcomes of the consortium's work was an agreement on the need to develop operational protocols within ICS, so that fire and rescue personnel would be able to apply the ICS as one common system. In 1993, the IMS consortium completed its first document: Model Procedures Guide for Structural Firefighting. As a result, FIRESCOPE incorporated the model procedures, thereby enhancing its organizational structure with operational protocols. These changes enabled the nation's fire and rescue personnel to apply the ICS effectively regardless of what region of the country they were assigned to work. The National Fire Academy (NFA), having already adopted the FIRESCOPE ICS in 1980, incorporated this material into its training curriculum as well". (FEMA, NIMS and ICS, 2004)