SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Search and Rescue conducted a simulated training exercise at Hope Ranch Inn.
The Search and Rescue Team conducted three rescue scenarios with 6 victims each.
The exercise was designed to give rescuers hands-on training should a disaster strike.
"You do your best not to let urgency and emotion not to run any of your calls but to focus on the task at hand and helping solve the problem," say Search and Rescue Team Member Steve McNeil.
He says it is something the rescue team does on average more than a hundred times a year.
Rescuers broke down doors and busted open windows trying to free trapped "victims" inside each room.
From the time they enter a building they leave markings on the door to communicate what they found, when they've entered and exited, whether or not they found hazards, how many victims they found and the conditions of the victims.
And though rescuers hope they won't have to conduct this in real life any time soon, they are proud to be prepared.
"I've been involved in Search and Rescue for 13 years," says McNeil.
"And it's my way to give back to the community. My way to help."
