The District 2 Incident Management Team’s mission in the City of Baltimore is complete. Starke County EMA Director Ted Bombagetti reported that the emergency responders will now report to a local National Guard Base where they might be redeployed to another area. Bombagetti indicated that they might go to New York to support efforts in flood ravaged areas, or to Western Maryland to help in emergency services due to blizzard conditions.
Over 200 Indiana emergency responders have been helping in the rescue and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. District 2 Incident Management Team Public Information Officer, Al Kirsits, who is a Battalion Chief with the Penn Township Fire Department in South Bend, said they were deployed to the City of Baltimore and immediately set up a emergency command center where plans were laid out on how services would be initiated in rescue efforts. The team, which includes representatives from seven Northern Indiana counties, worked with other personnel from Maryland to keep operations going as Hurricane Sandy hit landfall. Kirsits said the City of Baltimore was an area that was to suffer greatly from the storm, but it instead caused most of the flooding and other damage in the New York and New Jersey areas.
Starke County EMA Director Ted Bombagetti, and Kenny Pfost from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department were deployed with the District 2 Incident Management Team, along with Sherri Gaillard and Ron Patrick from the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department, Pulaski County EMA Director Larry Hoover and Sherry Fagner from the Pulaski County Health Department. Also representing Pulaski County is Matt Pitney.
The team is now awaiting assignment to another area or they will be sent home. The ambulance teams from Indiana may be sent home today. Their mission is now supporting swift water teams who are conducting house to house inspections.
