The Florida Park Service Ranger Association Emergency Support Team's (EST) purpose is to support FPS employees, volunteers, and Strike Teams during events like hurricanes and wildfires. The EST is made up of individuals from around the state working in a coordinated effort.

The mission of EST is two-fold; first to provide encouragement and moral support, and second to provide a hearty meal, drinks, snacks, and other small personal items to FPS employees, volunteers, and Strike Teams who are serving during an emergency event. Our goal is to support and impact these hard-working Florida Park Services staff who are working under difficult circumstances.

During significant events like Hurricane Ian, multiple ESTs will be assigned to multiple park locations. The FPS will request the EST, and the FPSRA will seek volunteers nearest to the assigned park(s). It is expected that these teams will go in after the recovery starts when the park is safe for our presence. The team can be in the park for as short as 2 hours for one meal or longer serving multiple meals over multiple days. Each situation will be different.

How can you help? Become a member of the EST by emailing Donald at Donald.forgione@gmail.com and he'll be in touch when a request comes in for a park in your area.

This is a great way to serve the men and women of the FPS when they are working so hard to get our parks back in operation. Join us in this new effort to show them some #RangerFirst love.