The Haz-Mat teams exist through contracts between individual local fire departments and the State Fire Marshal's Office. The fire departments agree to provide team members and regional response outside their local jurisdiction and the State Fire Marshal's Office provides training and equipment at no cost to the department. The State Fire Marshal's Office also reimburses all costs associated with actual haz-mat responses.

The twelve regional response teams, consisting of nationally accredited hazardous materials technicians, are fully equipped to enter the area immediately surrounding the hazardous material in order to monitor the environment and mitigate the incident. The regional response teams comprise a network and are able to support each other with personnel and or equipment when needed. These teams can respond to most areas in Kansas within an hour or less in order to address haz-mat incidents and accidents as well as terrorist events involving chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) products.

The regional response teams are located in the following areas: Coffeyville, Colby, Emporia, Ford County, Hays, Manhattan, Overland Park, Salina, Sedgwick County, Seward County, Topeka, and Wellington.

Between November of 2002 and August 2007, the regional teams responded to 84 incidents across the state of Kansas. These incidents included responses to overturned trucks, orphan drums, fuel spills, farm chemicals, train derailments, chemical fires, chlorine leaks, and unknown substances. Teams also made extended responses to the Greensburg tornado disaster in May 2007 and to the crude oil release during the Coffeyville flooding.