District 2 Task Force Lends Helping Hand in New York

Members of the Incident Management Team from the Indiana District 2 Task Force, which includes volunteers from Starke and Pulaski Counties, were redeployed to the Long Island, New York area this week to assist in recovery efforts. Public Information Officer, Al Kirsits, said they will start work this morning and will join forces with Indiana District 7 Task Force in recovery efforts. They will remain there for at least a week.

Among the 200 emergency responders from Indiana that have been helping with needs in New York and New Jersey, approximately 80 NIPSCO employee volunteers traveled east yesterday to assist with Hurricane Sandy restoration efforts. A few million customers from Ohio to New York remain without power.

These volunteers will provide assistance to FirstEnergy. FirstEnergy and NIPSCO belong to a 13-state mutual aid agreement and the two entities have assisted each other in the past during major outage events.

NIPSCO volunteers will help with patrolling lines, surveying damage and repairing broken poles and downed lines. In addition to NIPSCO crews, the company released outside resources from electric line and tree trimming contractors to provide extra support.