MERT

MERT was established by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) Division of Emergency Management to provide Sheriff Office vetted, Emergency Management protocol trained and FCC licensed amateur radio volunteers supporting emergency operations whenever required.

Mission

MERT was designed to provide emergency communications support to areas such as Shelters, Healthcare Facilities, Points of Distribution (POD), Mobile Command Center (MCC) operations and county CERT communities during disasters when traditional telecommunications services have failed or not available. They assist with moving critical and valuable voice, data and image  communications between agencies and locations about storm information, resource needs and requests to and from various local and state governmental agencies. MERT personnel and the equipment they use are capable of communicating with similar local, state and national facilities whenever necessary. MERT is SHARES authorized.