Local first responders headed to South Carolina on Monday as crews prepared for Hurricane Dorian's arrival.

Elite EMS in Mercer County sent two crew members and one advanced life support ambulance and medical supplies to help.

Crews are expected to be on a seven to 14-day activation, but that could change as the situation evolves and they will stay in the area as long as needed.

"This is something our employees have been passionate about since we opened; being able to be on some sort of strike team. They help the residents in the community every single day, but being able to go down there and help people where the resources are scarce due to the impending hurricane is something that they enjoy doing. They actually argue over who gets to go," said Courtney Ivan, Paramedic and Deputy Director at Elite EMS.

The company also notes that sending these resources does not affect their ability to provide a timely medical response to the communities they serve.

This ambulance service is a network provider under American Medical Response's contract with FEMA.

"As part of the EMS family, we're honored to be able to provide assistance when our communities need it most," said Glenn Miller, Elite EMS Director. 

AMR is FEMA's prime emergency medical service response provider and has a national agreement with FEMA to provide ground ambulance, air ambulance, paratransit services, and non-ambulance EMS personnel to supplement the federal and military response to a disaster, an act of terrorism or any other public health emergency.