WICHITA, Kansas, Oct. 15, 2007 -- Emergency responders from across south-central Kansas will gather for a week-long training event in Wichita. It culminates with a full-scale, mass casualty, disaster scenario that took years of planning.

It's a routine training scenario for Wichita and Sedgwick County firefighters on the technical rescue team. The task is to make sure a building doesn't collapse.

"We need to be ready, whatever is thrown our way," said Lt. Brent Holman, Wichita Fire Department. "If you don't practice with it, if you're not versed on it, then when you get on scene, you're going to drop the ball and nobody wants to fumble."

No one wants to fumble this week when Wichita hosts one of the largest disaster drills the state has ever seen after two years of planning.

Richmond Missouri performed a similar exercise. Rescue Training Associates, a Florida-based company, puts on the 48-hour real time scenarios.

You can expect a building collapse with people trapped inside while others with fake wounds walk the streets. Area fire, police and medical personnel won't know what will happen next and they will be forced to put their skills to the test.

"It's an extreme opportunity to be able to do this in this region. We've never done anything of this magnitude in this region and it's going to be an eye-opening experience for a lot of the people who are participating," said Scott Kleinschmidt, instructor, Wichita Technical Rescue Team.

It is also a chance to test the recently formed Regional Urban Search and Rescue Team partnership between the Wichita, Sedgwick County, Hutchinson, Newton and Winfield fire departments.

"So we can go back to the table and figure out where we need to make changes to make it easier for us to work together, respond together and ultimately provide better services for the citizens," said Scott.

The first part of the week will include three days of hands-on and classroom training all building up to the disaster drill which starts Friday.

"There's a little bit of nervous energy, little nervous excitement with it," said Holman. "I think if you're not nervous, there's a problem there. I have a lot of respect for live loads and heavy things that can squish you like a grape so we'll try not to let that happen."

The Wichita and Sedgwick County technical rescue teams have been in place for the last 25 years. They have responded to events like the DeBruce grain elevator explosion, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Greensburg tornado.

This week they will rely on those experiences to get through the disaster drill.