Politics & Government
Emergency Help is on the Way, Literally
Caravans of Midwest search and rescue workers, ambulance drivers, power line workers and tree cutters head toward the storm to help.
Hundreds of emergency workers are driving towards Hurricane Irene to help those who will be affected by the storm.
On the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a number of caravans from the Midwest are headed to different points on the East Coast, including urban search and rescue workers.
Federal Emergency Management Agency's Ohio Task Force 1 is headed to Cherry Hill, N.J., "to wait out the storm,” said Michael J. Cayse, who is planning logistics for the team. He has 80 members on this mission that deployed at noon Friday from southern Ohio.
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"We have $2-million dollars’ worth of search and rescue equipment to break through concrete and trees," said Cayse.
Structural engineers on the mission can help shore buildings or tell how best to break through them to rescue victims, Cayse said.
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Team members are bringing their own food, water, clothing wood and medical supplies, said Dr. Alan Flanigan, an emergency medicine physician from Cincinnati.
There are two doctors and four paramedics on the team that can perform minor surgeries on team members, said Cayse. The team is not equipped to do surgeries on other victims.
The task force is also comprised of firefighters, paramedics, and others to support search and rescue efforts, said Cayse. “Of the 80 team members, 26 are rescuers. The rest are support team members,” he said.
A stream of orange lined the right lane of the turnpike. Asplundh Tree Expert Company trucks from Ill., Ind. and Ohio also headed eastward on the turnpike.
Eric Vorys, an Asplundh work planner from Columbus, Ohio, said 60 crews are fanning out across the East Coast to deal with trees Irene takes down.
Vorys will pick up employees flying into Philadelphia International Airport and head to Flushing, N.Y., 10 miles east of Manhattan to deal with the storm’s aftermath.
Another Asplundh work planner, Matt Laure is taking crews to Vermont.
Twelve ambulances and at least 25 trucks from power companies in Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan also headed due east to help.
