'Intense' emergency exercise plays out at Fanshawe College in Woodstock, Ont.

Mock emergency drill transpires in Woodstock First responders performed simulated incidents at Fanshawe College on Tuesday, testing their emergency preparedness. Sean Irvine reports.

A chaotic exercise played out in Woodstock Tuesday morning as multiple emergency responders rushed to the satellite campus of Fanshawe College.

They were participating in a simulated exercise that had all the elements of real life.

In all, 20 patient actors were taken on waiting ambulances.

The training exercise began inside the college when an agitated female stabbed a person inside a classroom. She then threw chemicals in the air, creating a toxic reaction.

As cries for help went out, the situation escalated, with police being called in. Officers determined they had to act as they moved through a chemical smoke towards the agitator.

“Drop the scissors!” police repeatedly said to the woman before she was tazed and handcuffed.

But her arrest was only the beginning of this mock incident.

Firefighters, ambulance, and emergency response teams arrived, where they encountered shocked, stabbed, chemically burned and injured patients.

The shock of the scenario even sent one woman actor into labour.

Meanwhile, the chemical cloud has started to seep into neighbouring classrooms.

“There was something in the air, and we all started coughing,” explained a victim actor, while in character, to CTV News London.

“We were shocked when we came out and saw all these wounds. It’s horrible, horrible,” said another victim actor, most of whom are students in hairstyling and police foundations.

While this exercise featured performances, it also served as an exercise for first responders.

Senior members said it helps to prepare emergency responders for real-life scenarios.

“Every community partner is going to get together and say what worked well, what didn’t work well, and things we should prepare for in the future,” said Woodstock Deputy Chief Nick Novacich.

“You can never have enough staff at these types of incidents because of the unknown and the number of patients,” added Deputy Chief Trevor Shea of the Woodstock Fire Department.

Brent Arsenault, an emergency planner at Fanshawe College, said the exercise helps to enhance campus safety.

“It gives us an opportunity to provide a safe training environment, where we can go in and recognize gaps potentially, that we can make sure in the future become strengths,” he said.

Once out of character, those who played victims also stated they were impressed by the response.

“I got actually scared for a second until the police came, so I did actually lose myself for a moment there,” said one female actor, who agreed it's positive to see how prepared police, fire, paramedics and security teams already are.