For the second year in a row, Russ Whitman has spent two weeks in Suffolk County, N.Y., but not for vacation.

The Franklin Police Chief is a member of the Ohio All Hazard State Incident Management Team (IMT), which is a group of trained individuals who work together to assist local emergency personnel during ongoing, complex incidents such as hurricanes.

The IMT is deployed as part of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), which is a mutual aid agreement between states and territories of the U.S. that enables them to share resources during natural and man-made disasters.

Whitman and a team of 17 members from around Ohio that also included Springboro Police Chief Jeff Kruithoff were stationed in the Long Island county for 14 days to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which is estimated to have caused more than $63 million in damage, making it the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history.

Whitman spent the majority of his time — which was about 12 hours a day — organizing and tracking all the resources the county provided for victims.

“My first assignment was to assist in getting all the debris management in order,” Whitman said speaking of just trees, not houses. “We had to organize so that there was one single point for ordering equipment to avoid any duplicating orders.

“Once we got that squared away, I was transferred to resource management to track all the resources and verify they were being used,” he added.

The area in which Whitman was located did not receive as much damage as some other areas, but he said there were more than a million people without power on Long Island when he arrived on Oct. 31, and that number dropped to about 67,000 by the time he left on Nov. 13.

“The people who live and work there had their own families to worry about and that makes it difficult for them to deal with all the chaos,” Whitman said. “We come in with a different perspective. We don’t take over, but we help them to organize all that chaos.”

Last year, after Hurricane Irene hit the New York area, Whitman and the IMT went to Suffolk County for several days before being transferred to the harder-hit area of Windham, N.Y.

“In Windham, I could see the devastation and I worked with people who were living through it,” Whitman said. “Both places were outstanding experiences that I can learn from and bring back to our community.”

Whitman said his interest in being part of IMT was “sparked” when he went to New Orleans as part of the Warren County Law Enforcement team to assist after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“It’s just a great experience to be part of the thousands of different types of workers that come together to accomplish a common goal of bringing some normalcy back to these communities,” Whitman said. “And I’m very appreciative of the city supporting me to serve in this capacity.”

Whitman also said his deployment saves Franklin money as FEMA will reimburse the city for his salary, benefits and travel expenses.