The Sedgwick County Fire Department has joined a statewide effort to create a search and rescue team to respond to large-scale disasters.
The 72-member team would respond with specialized equipment to rescue victims trapped or buried under rubble.
The group would change the way disasters are handled in Kansas.
Local departments now respond to disasters on their own and ask for help from neighboring agencies.
Supporters say it would help in such disasters as the 1998 explosion of the DeBruce Grain elevator southwest of Wichita. The rescue effort involved five days of round-the-clock searching for survivors inside a debris-filled tunnel beneath the elevator.
"We quickly became overwhelmed," said Rick Brazill, county fire division chief.
The search and rescue team would better prepare the state in recovering from any terrorist attacks, natural disasters or accidents such as building collapses, he said.
The response team could arrive at a scene faster than a team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, county Fire Chief Gary Curmode said.
The team would have to be deployed by the governor or Legislature.
The group can exist without jeopardizing the Fire Department's primary goal of fighting fires and saving lives, Curmode said.
It would instead strengthen the department by giving employees more training, he said.
The group has to form before it can seek funding from the state or from federal grants.
Initial training and equipment for the group is estimated to cost $4.5 million the first year; expenses are expected to be about $750,000 annually after that.
Brazill said he worries that the state, dealing with its own tight budget, won't be able to pick up that tab. But he hopes the Legislature will fund the program during its next session.
Sedgwick County commissioners on Wednesday approved the Fire Department's involvement in the group.
More than 200 people are expected to be trained statewide, including as many as 20 from Sedgwick County, Brazill said.
Those off duty and available would be dispatched to help in any emergency.
A team would also include doctors, structural technicians and others.
