A method for accounting for emergency personnel and civilians at a site using a portable information receiving device that is communicatively coupled to a computer, the method comprising:
- transporting the portable information receiving device to the site;
- using the portable information receiving device for receiving machine-recognizable information that is associated with a person at the site and includes identification for the person, in order to log that person into the computer;
- classifying, based on the identification of the person, the person as either an emergency personnel or a civilian;
- in response to classifying the person as a civilian, assigning the person to a location of the site;
- and
- recording, in the computer, the location to which the person is assigned.