Nebraska Task Force 1 (NE-TF1) is making history as one of eleven emergency response teams participating in the nation's largest civilian based search and rescue exercise ever done in the United States.
Over 1,500 trained emergency responders will be stationed at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center (MUTC), Indiana, for the exercise on June 1-7.
The simulation took a year to plan.
Captain Michael Smith of Lincoln Fire and Rescue is one of 74 task force members traveling to Indiana for the training.
"We've been deployed to a earthquake, a simulated earthquake in Indiana. We are exercising all the different disciplines," Smith said. "This is very important for not just us, but for the community and the nation."
Urban search and rescue crews from California, Colorado, Nebraska, Ohio Tennessee, Indiana and Illinois will be working with multiple international teams from Canada and Australia to respond to a mock disaster.