Pequot Lakes firefighters

Soon you realize the screaming you hear is coming from your own mouth. The building you are in has collapsed and part of it is on fire. Some of the rubble has fallen on top of you, and now all you can do is wait for help to arrive.

Fortunately, this was only a training exercise - this time. If it was real, you'd be thankful to know that the emergency personnel responding have been trained to handle that type of situation.

The training exercise began Saturday morning at the former Reed's Sporting Goods location in Baxter. Emergency vehicles came from all directions and congregated in the parking lot. Several fire departments participated in the drill, including Crosslake, Ideal Township, Nisswa, Pequot Lakes, Brainerd and Pillager.

Unlike an actual emergency, however, there were no lights flashing or sirens sounding. And everyone participating - the victims, the first responders and firefighters, and the EMTs and ambulance personnel - knew no lives were actually on the line.

That doesn't mean anyone took it any less seriously.

"These calls are almost worse sometimes," said Kevin Lee, a North Memorial Ambulance supervisor for the Brainerd Region. "People don't know how far to take it."

As "victims" were brought out of the building by North Memorial Ambulance personnel, however, spectators could see that any injuries were only words written on a tag that hung around the rescued individual's neck.

Some read, "facial cuts, conscious walking, miscellaneous cuts and scrapes."

Even the people who wore, "non-ambulatory" tags walked out with their rescuers. The only difference was that rescuers carried backboards along with them.

"How often do you get an opportunity to do something like this?" asked Michelle Dickson, an 11th-grade Pine River-Backus student. Dickson and three other students from Steve Bergerson's first response class at PR-B volunteered to be victims along with their teacher.

Maho Suzuki from Japan and Daniela Damiani from Italy are foreign exchange students at PR-B. In Saturday's scenario they were trapped behind the steel security gate at Reed's, and both were cast as "panic stricken."

"It was a little scary," said Damiani. They screamed like it was real, she said. Then they heard, "We're coming! Don't worry!"

The other two students, Casey Dabrowski and Michelle Dickson, also volunteered to play the part of victims. Their part was to be Dave's Pizza workers preparing to open the store.

Bergerson was trapped with a lower leg bone fracture in a section of the building only accessible from the roof. Once rescue workers cleared victims from the building, they were stabilized and evacuated by the firefighters, then handed off to North Memorial to be triaged and transported in an ambulance, if necessary.

Bergerson said all of the students who participated were impressed with the number of rescue professionals who turned out to prepare for a major mass casualty situation.

"On the way back to Pine River, they discussed scenarios like a school bus accident or school shooting, and how they might manage a situation like that," he said.

In the first responder class, students have learned how to extricate victims from car crashes. They have been trained to protect the cervical spine and immobilize the patient on a backboard and then transport the patient to the ambulance.

Bergerson said PR-B has been offering the first responder class for three years. Students who successfully complete the course are certified by the state as First Responders, a prerequisite for students entering law enforcement or firefighting.

Lee and Bergerson believe currently PR-B is the only area school to offer the class.

Lee said it works well to use high school students as victims. "It's hard to round up individuals to volunteer."

In addition to participating in the mass casualty scenario and observing the professional men and women put all their training to use, Bergerson said each student earned extra credit points for giving up part of their Saturday to help at the drill. The time spent also fulfills part of the school's community service requirement.