HUBBARD — The call came in for chemicals leaking from a trailer, causing a group of concertgoes at Hubbard’s Harding Park amphitheater to develop stinging eyes, stinging noses and trouble breathing — except there was no concert in the park at 8 a.m. Saturday, or an actual chemical spill.

All the “victims” of the mock emergency were nursing students from Youngstown State University and Kent State University Trumbull.

More than half a dozen local entities participated in the morning mass casualty drill, which was conducted for practice as well as to help some of those organizations with certifications and obtain funding. The drill was overseen by the Local Emergency Planning Committee and in conjunction with the Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency.

“The importance of it is to make sure we don’t have any shortfalls,” said Kayla Schoonover, coordinator of the LEPC. Schoonover said emergency exercises are held every year.

Lt. Mike Mogg with the Eagle Joint Fire District, who was the incident coordinator for the exercise, said the drill was part of continual training for first responders, adding “practice makes perfect.”

“With I-80 running right through Hubbard, we have a lot of chemicals transported in our area,” Mogg said.

Mogg listened to updates from the team securing the mock spill on his radio, ending each of his responses with “this is a drill.”

With the scene secure, firefighters directed the “victims,” many who were wrapped in foil blankets, to line up in front of two firetrucks. Water was sprayed between the trucks, creating a shower.

In a real emergency, those affected would walk through the spray, turning slowly, to rinse off chemicals. With the morning temperature sitting at a brisk 52 degrees, the process was demonstrated, but the students were spared from actually getting wet.

Next, “victims” were brought into a tent to don white, full-body suits before being loaded into ambulances to be transported to area hospitals.

“I feel like a giant marshmallow,” joked Rachel Steadman, a senior nursing student at Kent State University Trumbull, while she waited to board a Brookfield ambulance.

Tammie McMurry, another Kent nursing student who hopes to work in an Emergency Department one day, found the drill interesting because she could one day be on the “receiving end” of a real-life mass casualty situation.

The nursing students agreed that the cooperation between agencies on the scene was impressive.

“It’s interesting to see how all the departments work together,” Angie Daniels, a Kent nursing student, said.

Mike Kerr, an educator with Mercy Health Youngstown, said that nursing students participate in the drill as part of their classes and and receive class credit.

Students transported to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital were greeted by doctors and nurses in HazMat suits standing outside of tents erected outside the emergency room. The students’ PPE were cut off, and they were led through a decontamination process. Some walked through the tent, while others were pulled through a different section on a roller designed to transport patients too injured to walk.

They passed from the “hot zone” to the “warm zone” between tents, and then into a “cool zone” — a second tent designated for triage.

Ryan Bonacci, chief of police at Mercy Health Youngstown, said the second decontamination is to make sure both the patients and the medical staff are safe.

He echoed the importance of practicing for a real emergency.

“The goal of this is education,” Bonacci said. He said Mercy Health has dealt with some smaller hazardous materials situations in the recent past, but nothing on the scale practiced Saturday.

“We want to make sure if something big does happen, we’re prepared for it,” Bonacci said.

Other safety forces that participated included Liberty Fire Department, Lane Life Trans, Hubbard City and Township police and Trumbull County HazMat, according to Mogg.