UPDATE: Because of Friday night’s house fire in Hays, this training has been postponed.

Hays Fire Department

Beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, the Northwest Kansas Regional Rescue Team will conduct a search-and-rescue training exercise at Hess Services, 230th Avenue and Feedlot Road. The exercise will simulate the coordinated search of a wide area and the rescue of trapped persons after a tornado strike.

The Northwest Kansas Regional Rescue Team is operated by the Hays Fire Department and is cooperatively staffed by specially trained firefighters from the Ellis County Rural, Ellis, Victoria and Hays fire departments. The team serves the 18 counties in the northwest region of the state providing building collapse, confined space, trench cave-in and high-elevation rescue services.

The Ellis County Rural Fire Department, Ellis County EMS and Ellis County Emergency Management will be participating in this exercise to simulate a full emergency response.

The exercise was planned and coordinated by Chief Darin Myers of the Ellis County Rural Fire Department and Captain Kirk Klein and Firefighter Tim Detrixhe of the Hays Fire Department.

The members of the Regional Rescue Team would like to thank Hess Services for their cooperation and assistance in conducting this exercise,” HFD Chief Gary Brown said in a news release.