Indiana deploys emergency personnel to the East coast, ahead of Sandy

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Indiana emergency responders are already on their way to help the states that need it most. The Indiana Department of Homeland Security says the crews started leaving this weekend. The executive director says Indiana was one of the first states to respond.

A lot of them tried to get a head start, hoping to beat the airport travel delays and cancelations that are happening at the Indianapolis International Airport. “One of the problems beginning in the next day or so is going to be travel and it could delay some of those folks from getting to the scene,” says Joe Wainscott the Executive Director of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

A total of 107 people left Indiana, headed to the states that asked for help. The states that requested help are New York, New Jersey and Maryland. They took with them 44 vehicles, and 24 of those are ambulances. Wainscott says, the people being asked to go will be doing the same type of jobs they do here. "They will be supporting needs at the local level if they're deployed by the state to range from anything  to taking 911 calls to assisting in emergency evacuation hospitals or nursing homes or other places that may be in harms way. ”

IPL also sent 22 linemen and about a dozen trucks to West Virginia. The crew will stay there until the storm hits, then they will travel to where they are needed most. The crew members are expected to work 16 hour days, for two weeks.

Furthermore, employees from Townsend Corporation are headed to the East Coast to assist in power restoration. Over 380 workers with 300 vehicles are headed to Connecticut, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, and Virginia.

Indiana Task Force 1 has 70 emergency crew members heading to Dayton, Ohio. Chief Tom Neal says, FEMA has asked that the team bring water rescue equipment, because they’re planning on Hurricane Sandy being a water event.

For a list of airline cancelations, click here .