American TransMed paramedics and EMTs were busy Thursday night unloading gear and unpacking bags. After driving 1,184 miles to get to Gaffney, a group of paramedics and emergency medical technicians was ready to get some well-earned shuteye.

But first, they had a few chores to finish.

After emptying all their luggage and bags of necessities for such a long haul from their ambulances at the American TransMed headquarters, the group of emergency responders got to work cleaning and polishing the emergency vehicles so the vehicles would be ready to go back to work today.

Of the 14 paramedics and EMTs that American TransMed sent to San Antonio, Texas, to help in the emergency response to Hurricane Ike, 10 were released from service by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday night. They started their return trip to Gaffney at about 10:30 p.m. Central time.

One by one, with a little time lag between them since some stopped for their first sit-down meal in more than a week, they began rolling into Gaffney at about 7 p.m. Thursday.

"Sleep," was the common answer when asked what the emergency workers had planned.

American TransMed workers had been dispatched to Hurricane Gustav just a few weeks ago and a group of 10 paramedics and EMTs from the ambulance company's Gaffney and Spartanburg offices made the trip to Louisiana.

Only 10 hours after they arrived back in Gaffney on Sept. 9, American TransMed workers were asked to go back into service, this time in Texas along the Gulf Coast.

Todd Morris, operations supervisor for American TransMed, was among the seven emergency workers returning from Louisiana who made the quick turnaround back for Ike.

They arrived in Texas on Sept. 10 and were sent to Galveston, which would become one of the hardest-hit areas, to help evacuate a hospital before Ike made landfall.

"It took us five hours to make a 2 1/2-hour trip ," Morris said of the densely packed roadways due to the region's evacuation efforts.

On Friday, when the storm made landfall, the emergency workers stayed in San Antonio, far enough inland but still close enough to feel the high winds from the hurricane.

They went right back to work after the storm passed, returning hospital patients back into the previously evacuated Corpus Christi area.

During Hurricane Gustav, the TransMed workers were hunkered down in Alexandria as the storm passed overhead.

"They (FEMA) had a hurricane proof tent," Morris recalled. "It blew down."

Besides Morris, those returning home Thursday evening included paramedics Lashae Lipscomb, Sue King and Scott Morris; emergency medical technicians Michael Scruggs, Brian Sutherland, Kellen Fleming, Donaie Lemberger and Tammy Bridwell; and first responder Brandon Kincaid.

American TransMed still has two advanced life support ambulances and two crews in the Gulf. One of the crews is based in Houston, the other in San Antonio.

There was no firm word on when they might be released from service.

This was the fifth time overall that American TransMed has sent crews for hurricane response efforts, Morris said.

Altogether, the crews put about 4,100 miles on each ambulance during their trips back and forth from the Gulf.