AUBURN – A local Army reserve unit, the 619th Transportation Company, has been placed on alert in case it’s needed to help the Gulf cleanup.

However, the company’s 150 soldiers need not pack, yet.

“They’re in the queue,” said an Army spokesman at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. “But it’s a long queue.”

The alert was issued last week. There is no guarantee the company will be activated at all.

The unit was last activated for duty in Iraq. It returned home in February.