Fairfax and Montgomery Co. rescue teams help with Sandy response - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

As New York and New Jersey recover from Sandy, help is pouring in from all over the country.

Among those now in the disaster zone: members of the Fairfax and Montgomery County Urban Search and Rescue teams.

Virginia Task Force 1, headed by the Fairfax County Fire Department, spent Tuesday night in Little Ferry, N.J., helping townspeople evacuate flooding caused by a levee break.

"We brought more people and some boats to assist in the areas that were too deep for the military trucks to get into," says Battalion Chief Paul Ruwe, leading the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue team.

"At the time we got there, most of the people that were stranded were in their homes," Ruwe told us by telephone Thursday. "Obviously, it's flood waters, so there are some contamination issues, and obviously, the temperatures don't make it too desirable to be in the water for the citizens."

"They were basically stranded," he continues. "At the time, they had no electricity, no gas service, and with it cool at night, they didn't have to leave, but most of them wanted to leave and wanted to relocate to a functioning facility or most of them went to a relative's house or a friend's house."

Montgomery County's Urban Search and Rescue team is in New York City.

Both teams are not sure when they will be coming home.