Oklahoma Crews Prepare To Help East Coast Hurricane Victims

Oklahomans are packing up and heading to the east coast.

First responders from across the state are sending crews to help victims of hurricane Florence. 

Right now, it’s just kind of a waiting game. Trucks are loaded up and crews are ready to roll. They could leave in 5 minutes or 2 days.

As hurricane Florence begins to cause trouble for people on the East Coast,  the Tulsa Fire Department Task Force 1 is one of many Oklahoma crews ready to help. 

Some crews have headed out and others are still on standby, ready to go.

"They will show up here, we'll roster them up and then we will give them our plan, where we are headed to, travel plan, get them assigned to a truck, and we will head out," said Tulsa Fire Department Captain Terry Sivadon.  

The 20-man crew has eight trucks and three boats already loaded for the trip.

"Like this truck right behind me with this enclosed trailer, we'll carry all of our gear bags in it," said Sivadon. "The main [thing] is we take all of our gear and stuff with us. One thing they want us to do is [to] be self-sufficient for seven days down there."

“This truck here, it carries all of our hand tools, a lot of our rescue gear, hydraulic tools, anything we may need so it's just good to take your toolbox when you go," Sivadon said. “And here is three of our rescue boats that we will be taking. We will assign teams to them. Use these to help people get out of their houses and get out of that flood water and to get to a place of safety."

PSO is also ready to go but just waiting to find out when and where they'll be needed.

OG&E crews are already on the road and Muskogee County EMS sent a crew as well.

Captain Sivadon said his crews are prepared for this because of Hurricane Harvey.

"That was huge because that was our first swift water team deployment and it was eye-opening to a lot of my rescue swimmers and just really got us prepared," Sivadon said. 

The Oklahoma City Task Force just got called out so the Tulsa crew could be leaving at any time.