Hurricane Irma: Montgomery County First Responders Stationed In Georgia

MACON, GA — Montgomery County first responders have arrived in Georgia ready to assist in the areas that could take the worst hit in Hurricane Irma.

Pete Piringer, chief spokesperson for Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service, told WTOP that a select group of specially trained hazardous materials responders from Montgomery County are stationed at Robins Air Force Base, near Macon, Georgia. The Macon area has become a destination city for residents of Southeast Georgia who are under a mandatory evacuation order, with Red Cross shelters already set up in te city.

The base's prime location, near where Interstates 75 and 16 meet, allows responders quick and direct access to roads that run down into Florida and east to the Atlantic Coast. (Get Patch’s real-time news alerts or like us on Facebook. For iPhone users, get the free Patch app.)

SEE ALSO:

• Hurricane Irma: 'Freight Train' Of A Storm Barrels Toward Florida, Georgia And The Carolinas
• Will Hurricane Irma Hit Maryland?

Watch: Florida Braces As Irma Rips Across The Caribbean

Piringer said the team was en route home from helping Hurricane Harvey victims in Houston when they were redirected to the Georgia base.

The other responders on Maryland Task Force One are home right now, but are ready to be deployed to help with Irma.

Irma has claimed 11 lives so far as it swept through the Caribbean. By 5 a.m. Friday Irma is 55 miles northeast of the Great Inagua Island and nearly 500 miles southeast of Miami.

Authorities are preparing for the worst in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas as Hurricane Irma continues its destructive path. Evacuations have been ordered for the Florida Keys, parts of Florida, and north into Georgia. A state of emergency has been issued in Florida, the Carolinas and Georgia.

The storm is expected to make landfall in southern Florida Sunday morning. Hurricane warnings have been issued for parts of southern Florida, while hurricane watches are in effect into the central region, according to the National Hurricane Center. Irma could directly hit the Carolinas and Georgia, but forecasters say it's too early to predict the severity and location of the impacts.

In this Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, photo, damage is left after Hurricane Irma hit Barbuda. Hurricane Irma battered the Turks and Caicos Islands early Friday as the fearsome Category 5 storm continued a rampage through the Caribbean that has killed a number of people, with Florida in its sights. (Anika E. Kentish/Associated Press)