to access injured victims or to keep them out of public sight and prevent heightening emotions further. they are usually far aside the incident, in an existing building or pitched tent. transport ambulance on scene with emergency lights on the final stage in the pre-hospital management of a mass casualty incident is the transport of casualties to hospitals for more definitive care. if the number of ambulances available is inadequate, other vehicles may transport patients, such as police cars, firetrucks, air ambulances, transit buses, or personal vehicles. as with treatment, transport priority is determined based on the severity of the patient's injuries. usually, the most seriously injured are transported first, with the least serious transported only after all the critical patients have been transported. in an effort to remove as many lightly injured civilians as possible, an incident commander may choose to have those least seriously injured transported to local hospitals or interim-care centers in order to provide more room for emergency personnel to work. it is also possible that lightly injured casualties will be transported first when access to those who are more severely injured will be delayed due to heavy or difficult rescue efforts. definitive care the care that is rendered at the scene of an mci is usually only temporary and is designed to stabilize the casualties until they can receive more definitive care at a hospital or an interim-care center. interim-care center an interim-care center is a temporary treatment center which allows for the assessment and treatment of patients until they can either be discharged or transported to a hospital. these are often placed in gymnasiums, schools, arenas, community centers, hotels, and or other locations that can support a field hospital setup. permanent buildings are preferred to tents as they provide shelter, power, and running water, but many governments maintain complete field hospital setups that can be deployed anywhere within their jurisdiction within 12–24 hours. while full field hospitals require a significant amount of time to deploy (in relation to the length of most incidents), emergency personnel can set up temporary interim-care centers fairly quickly if needed using the personnel and resources they have on-hand. these centers are usually staffed by a combination of doctors, nurses, paramedics/emergency medical technicians, first responders, and social workers (for example, from the red cross), who work to get families reunited after a disaster. mass casualty event generally, in the healthcare field, the term "mass casualty event" (mce) is used when hospital resources are overwhelmed by the number or severity of casualties. during these incidents, hospitals can discharge all fit patients, dedicate more resources to the emergency department, and expand their intensive care unit to accommodate anticipated long-term care needs. while up to 80% of victims will be transported from the scene to hospitals, others who are less injured might walk themselves to these facilities and increase the load at the closest facility to the incident. mces can include epidemics, chemical emergencies, mass shootings, and natural disasters like weather. demobilization the final product of an mci that happens to link up with the m.e.t.h.a.n.e. method is the act of demobilization which is crucial to the entire process. the demobilization process has to be in place from the beginning, once an area has been mobilized. this is critical, as a mass casualty incident can get out of hand quickly. having everything planned out step-by-step can alleviate these concerns and help cover for the unexpected. the demobilization process also gives the local community and the corresponding agencies an idea for how long their city and specific areas will be consumed with emergency personnel and essentially blocked off. in many events, such as hurricane katrina, the demobilization process is not taken into account from the beginning. as a result, the process goes on much longer than necessary, which exacerbates financial costs, and puts a burden on local emergency and law enforcement services to uphold their everyday duties while also maintaining control of the mass casualty incident.