WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Long before the sun came up over the Nation's Capital Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of people were filling the streets and packing Metro stations.

They had one mission -- to witness the inauguration of the nation's first black president.

D.C. Fire and EMS personnel also were geared up, ready to protect the masses that included the elderly, children and people with special needs. Crews from nearby COG regions answered the call for mutual aid, sending units and people.

They've been swamped with calls. Crews -- that include six EMS task forces -- handled 1,148 responses between 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. Personnel in first aid stations on the Mall treated 490 people, and transported 31.

Sen. Ted Kennedy was taken to Washington Hospital Center after suffering a seizure during the luncheon.

The temperatures -- in the teens overnight -- actually dropped after dawn. Although numerous heating tents were set up across the city, many visitors flagged down EMS crews for assistance.

Officials in the command operations center -- located in Engine 2 -- said there was a crush of calls between 4 and 5 a.m. that stretched local resources because mutual aid crews had not arrived.

People started arriving way before anyone expected. "I heard people were gathering about 1 a.m. That caught us by surprise," said Deputy Chief of Operations Larry Schultz.

He said crowds began forming as early as 1 a.m., but resources were not scheduled to arrive until 6 a.m. Since local units and personnel had not been cleared by Secret Service, they had to stop at check points along the way. Schultz said they had to deal with the delay especially since emergency vehicles have been used in terrorist attacks in other countries.

By 3 a.m., crews were overwhelmed by the masses who were braving the frigid temperatures for a spot. Although there were 40 warming tents set up, and several buildings were open, many suffering from exposure didn't take advantage of the care.

Schultz said people didn't want to leave their prized spots.

By 8:25 a.m., officials said there were more than 400,000 on the Mall. The requests for EMS were continuous. Fire officials said that between the hours of 4 a.m. and 10 a.m., they responded to 262 calls. Those included everything from falls to people with diabetic emergencies, and exposure issues.