PRESTONSBURG - A rolling meth lab crashes into a loaded school bus at Prestonsburg High School. Students are injured, screaming. Chemicals seep into the air, causing respiratory damage, burns, and other injuries.

What would you do? Who would make the call for help? How quickly will emergency officials respond? How can anyone turn such a disaster into a successful rescue mission?

Those are some of the questions being pondered by the Floyd County School District's Crisis Support Team and community emergency responders.

The mock disaster planning committee held its last meeting Thursday morning to finalize plans for a mock disaster that will take place Tuesday, May 17, at Prestonsburg High School.

School bus driver Doug Derossett will pull onto the high school property around 9 a.m. His bus, loaded down with 20 students and three health assistants (acting as severely injured students), will crash with a "rolling meth lab" driven by Scott Young, from the Floyd County Health Department.

Someone, or possibly many someones, will call 911. Then, the real test begins.

Prestonsburg Police and Fire Departments, Kentucky State Police, Respond Ambulance, Transtar Ambulance and other officials will respond to the scene, where they will assess the damage and deal with the situation accordingly.

What they won't know is which one of three scenarios will be picked out by Lola Ratliff, Floyd County safe schools coordinator. They won't know the extent of injuries at the crash site. They possibly won't even know about the "chemical spill" before it's too late and rescue responders are already contaminated.

"Victims" will be decontaminated at the scene and at Highlands Regional Medical Center and Our Lady of the Way Hospital.

The Prestonsburg Fire Department will host the designated command post and evaluators, organized by Floyd County Health Department Director Thursa Slone, will observe and take notes during the disaster. The information will be used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of school officials and those responding to the scene.

During the meeting, the group discussed a variety of possible scenarios that could turn the mock disaster into a real disaster for rescuers who respond. It's possible, they said, that a meth-crazed "gunman" will enter the school, or, it's just as possible that the school will be locked down with Principal Ted George caught outside and exposed to the dangerous "chemicals" himself. It's even possible that a real emergency occurs and the entire event will be canceled.

That, one member said, would be the real test for rescuers.

As ideas were tossed around the room, Jim Caldwell, director of public safety, asked if there would be any "fatal injuries."

The crowd grew silent.

One thing is certain, however: Rescuers will learn from this event.

Dwayne Osborne, a Respond paramedic, suggested that the entire disaster be videotaped for critiquing purposes. Respond Ambulance participated in a mock disaster three years ago at American Standard in Paintsville and they learned more from the video than they did the actual disaster, he said.

Ratliff and Beverly Crisman, community education coordinator for Floyd County Schools, say the District Support Team has been trying to plan a mock disaster in Floyd County for several years, but was unable to do so because such an event carries with it a lot of "liabilities."

Ratliff said the board is willing to risk those liabilities because the event will help ease problems that could arise during a real disaster.

"Anytime you go through anything as realistic as a real crisis, you can go back and reflect on it and find your weaknesses," Crisman said.

Every school in Floyd County has a crisis planning manual in place. The district, with the help of other agencies, has done extensive crisis planning research, and now Ratliff says, they want to take it to the "next level."

Prestonsburg Police Chief Mike Omerod expressed concern about passersby, who may think the crisis is actually occurring.

That, he said, could make the practice drill become a bit messy.

Signs will be posted on the highway and the media will be notified, the group decided.