FORT PIERCE - The St. Lucie County Public Safety/Emergency Response Team has been deployed to assist with wildfires that have been burning in Brevard County since the weekend.

St. Lucie County's EDICS (Emergency Deployable Interoperable Communications System) Trailer and Communications Team was sent Wednesday night to help emergency crews with large wildfires that have burned Palm Bay and Malabar. The county's Emergency Response Team consists of Kurt Myers, Mandy Cliff and Page Sanders from the St. Lucie County Public Safety Department.

The request for assistance was made by the State Division of Forestry to provide additional communications capability needed to support their strike teams fighting the fires in the area. The Emergency Response Team will use the EDICS Trailer to tie together all of the emergency communications together into one mobile command center, networking radios, satellites cellular telephones and internet systems.

Almost exactly one year ago, the St. Lucie County EDICS team assisted response crews with the large wildfires that burned more than 6,000 acres from Flagler to Volusia County. In previous disasters, the county's Emergency Response Team and EDICS Trailer was used to help assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi and Hurricane Charlie in Desoto County, Fla.

The EDICS Trailer is maintained by St. Lucie County; however, it can be used in any state or national emergency when needed. It is part of the Region Five Domestic Security Task Force and allows agencies with different communication systems to talk to each other during an emergency. The Communication Support Vehicle, a converted ambulance, serves a support vehicle for the trailer and it contains items such as HAM radios, extra hand held radios, battery chargers and other communication support equipment.

For more information, contact the St. Lucie County Public Safety Department at (772) 461-5201.

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