What are the three Control Zones used to divide incident hazard and access?

• A. Hot, Warm, and Cold zones
• B. Blue, Red, and Green zones
• C. Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary zones
• D. Inner, Outer, and Outer-Perimeter zones

Answer: (A)

Dividing an incident by how contaminated the area is protects responders and keeps access controlled. The three zones are the cold zone, the warm zone, and the hot zone.

The cold zone is the clean area where incident command, staging, medical care, and non-contaminated support activities take place. It serves as the safe base of operations and where supplies can be handled without risk of contamination.

The warm zone acts as a buffer between clean and contaminated areas. It’s where decontamination occurs and where responders transition between protected, non-contaminated work and the hot zone. PPE donning and doffing and decon setup typically happen here to prevent spreading contamination.

The hot zone is the area with the actual hazard. Access is restricted to trained personnel wearing appropriate PPE, because this is where contamination is present and the greatest risk to responders exists.

Other color schemes or naming schemes don’t align with standard hazmat practice for dividing incident hazard and access, and they don’t emphasize the decontamination and access-control flow that the hot, warm, and cold zones provide.