In 2005 large areas of Switzerland suffered flooding after long and severe rainfalls. Several museums were affected and while all rescue work was successful, a potential for improvement was noted. Following these events the University of Applied Arts, Department of Objects Conservation of the Swiss Conservation-Restoration Campus, reserved a time slot to introduce a practical three weeks module about salvage operations for cultural heritage. Since 2008, this course has developed into a sound, didactically structured and exciting experience for all partners involved: students, teachers, civil service agents, fire fighters and curators. The founding principle of this course is role playing. The students are welcomed by two archives and museum curators, who introduce them to “their” collection (consisting of donated or flea-market objects and documents). On the pretext that the collection has to temporarily leave the premises for a refurbishment of the building, the students get acquainted with the differences in inventory practices for museum collections and archival holdings. They inventory, number and label, establish a transportation list and pack the collection. The students then take a two-day introductory course on disaster recovery. It includes various presentations such as a photographic introduction to disasters, graphic animations regarding on-site management and the description of the Swiss Civil Security chain of command. Safety issues are presented by a teacher from the Health Department, along with the demonstration of individual protection equipment. Mostly however, that part of the module is based on simulation training techniques which includes group exercises on setting up an adequate organization for salvage, experimenting efficient communication techniques or reflecting on pairs of objects shown before after disasters. During that time, the objects have been transported to the Fire Brigade training site, in order to be either set on fire or flooded – on a two years rotation. As the students are the only persons beside the curators to know the collection, the firemen call them on site where they are given the responsibility to rescue, stabilize, document, re-inventory and if necessary deaccession the collection, following ICOM Guidelines. All procedures are implemented in permanent coordination with fire fighters, civil security representatives and the collection’s curators. The local press is involved, enhancing the real-life feeling of this highly practical training. After five intense days of rescue operations, the students follow a two days laboratory course about mold. They then have one week at their disposal to prepare their documentation which includes a timeline, a description of the organization that prevailed, a critical review of actions taken and statistics on the salvaged collection, the time spent on various operations and the costs involved. All training partners convene for a final presentation by the students, which then hand the lead back over to the curators. The paper will develop on the different stages of the course, some of the teaching material as well as on the interaction with and participation of the professional first and second responders.