With Hurricane Sandy traveling up the eastern seaboard, the National Guard has 1,600 guards on standby in Pennsylvania to dispatch as needed.
Sergeant Matt Jones said there are 800 soldiers based in Task Force South and said that includes Southern and Southeastern Pennsylvania, including State College.
Jones said the guards were called up and put on alert Sunday between 8 a.m. and noon.
He said right now, they are reporting to armories and preparing to be called on possible missions.
Jones said this includes filling up water jugs, putting gas in the cars and making sure they have meals that are prepackaged.
However, he said the National Guard is the not the first responder, and said they respond if both the local county and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency do not have assets or a rescue team available.
“Ideally, the first responders are the individuals themselves,” Jones said. “If they take themselves out of dangerous situations, that’s one less first responder that’s necessary.”
