They're often overlooked, but the preparations emergency responders make before a crisis often save lives during one.

Members from the Vilas and Oneida county emergency response teams spent the day going over crisis scenarios. Officers were called to Arbor Vitae Woodruff Elementary school in response to a simulated armed intruder. EMS workers and law enforcement worked together to ensure they're ready for any emergency.

It took the emergency response teams more than a year to organize the event, and they say the work paid off. Most of the flaws in the response system were worked out before the exercise.