EMS crew returns home after helping with Hurricane Sandy relief efforts

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - An EMS crew from the Warsaw area just got back from helping with Hurricane Sandy relief efforts on the east coast.

Some first responders from Multi Township EMS in Leesburg, Indiana had no clue what they were about to see as they left Indiana to help those in need in New Jersey.  Governor Mitch Daniels got a call from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie days before the hurricane hit and asked him to send first responders.

The crew from Leesburg got there just hours before Hurricane Sandy hit.  The flooding was so bad they weren't able to drive their ambulances to devastated areas.  Instead police and other first responders brought people who needed medical attention to EMTs.  They said most of the people who needed to be seen were suffering from hypothermia, needed medicine because they lost theirs, or had chest pain.  One EMT said he'll never forget what he saw.

"The one thing I remember was when they were bringing people off Barrier Island and people out staring watching for their relatives you know.  It was pretty intense.  We kind of put our feelings to the back and did our jobs.  It has hit me harder since we've been back then when I was there," Multi Township EMT Ron Sellars said.

Both EMTs we talked with Friday said people in New Jersey gave them more then they gave them.  They say it's an experience they'll never forget.

The crew was there for five days and just got back home at 2 a.m. on Friday.

Click here to read the crews updates from when they were in New Jersey.