Wednesday was a busy day for emergency service leaders in Douglas County.

The jail flooded. A major fire broke out in a grocery store causing several injuries. A train derailed and then toxic contaminants flowed into a stream.

But don’t worry. The events were all simulated, as part of the second day of a two-day series of “table top” training exercises.

“There were multiple incidents so you had to think bigger than what was going on in your city,” Emergency Management Director Teri Smith said.

Participating in the exercises were the people who would find themselves in command of the various agencies that would be called on to respond. The training brings together local and area law enforcement; fire and medical agencies; and emergency management personnel, along with local and state health agencies.

“This just helps us all work together and be able to get a clearer picture of handling an incident in our community,” Smith said.

Emergency officials outside of the county also participated.

“Hopefully this is as close as we get to this type of incident. I don’t want to live this in real life,” said Jim Johnson, safety and security manager with the Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex in Topeka.

Johnson worked with county jail commanders in handling the flooding scenario and the possible evacuation of inmates.

Counties are mandated by the federal government to show they meet standards for handling disasters and emergencies. Those standards fall under what’s called the National Incident Management System. NIMS is designed so emergency workers across the country can work together if called on.

“If I were deployed to (Hurricane) Katrina again, we’re all walking the same walk and talking the same talk,” Smith said.

Certified NIMS instructors from the Kansas Highway Patrol and Kansas Division of Emergency Management observed and graded the responses by the participants.