How it works
PACE is the order a team switches in when a way of talking stops working: Primary, the everyday method; Alternate, its backup; Contingency, when both have failed; Emergency, the last resort.12 Each level needs a trigger, the moment to move to the next one.134
The same path should never be used twice: a PoC radio, a phone call and a text all ride on the mobile network and fail together, so the box flags two levels on one path. The last level does not have to be a device: going to an agreed meeting point counts.14
The plan also checks the team itself: every role in a group, every role sharing a group with the coordinator, no empty or doubled group names. A coordinator in several groups needs scanning or multi-group listening on the radio or app, tested before the shift.
Incident teams in the US write the same channel plan on FEMA's ICS 205 form, with the contact list on ICS 205A.56 Words for the air: radio codes and prowords. Batteries for the shift: battery life calculator. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
