SoCal ambulances respond to help with emergency response to Hurricane Helene

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- First responders from Southern California are headed to the East Coast to help with the emergency response to Hurricane Helene.

The federal government put out the call on Thursday and Falck private ambulance company responded.

Seven ambulances staffed by paramedics and EMTs from Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties departed on the 2,500-mile journey Thursday afternoon. The deployment is expected to be up to 14 days.

"The good part about Falck is we have services throughout the U.S. and California and so we're able to take a couple from each jurisdiction so as not to deplete one area, put them together in what we call a strike team," said Lyle Hanson, managing director of Falck Mobile Health.

Both basic and advanced life-support teams are being dispatched.

Falck has responded to hurricanes in the past, but this is the farthest they have ever traveled from the West Coast. They're headed to a staging area in Greensville, South Carolina.