An emergency response personnel automated accountability system, also referred to as a Firefighter Automated Accountability System (FAAS), is provided that supports automatic tracking of and limited communications among first responders including fire, police, emergency medical service, and safety personnel. The FAAS increases situational awareness and safety of first responder personnel by automatically providing position information as well as other sensor information. Components of the FAAS integrate wireless mesh networks with positioning and communication systems to support real-time tracking of and communications with emergency response personnel. The FAAS incident awareness system provides position and time information via Global Positioning System (GPS) and/or other positioning systems, and processed data from sensors to provide enhanced communications, command and control capabilities to the first responders and incident command at the incident scene.