Men in full hazmat suits, fire companies, emergency management personnel, police and ambulances.

This was the scene outside Ametek Westchester Plastic in Nesquehoning Monday night.For passers-by, it looked like a full-scale emergency, but the purpose of the event was a large-scale hazardous materials exercise to prepare emergency responders in case an actual disaster like this happened."We do this because if you don't train you don't know how to react in an emergency," said Robert G. Werts, program manager for the Northeast Pennsylvania Regional Counter Terrorism Task Force. "It's important (to do full-scale trainings like this) from time to time so fire and police can practice and know how to react if it happens.""We're putting the plans and procedures into practice by this simulated scenario," Mark Nalesnik, Carbon County Emergency Management Agency director said. "They will identify things that they want to see go better next time and identify best practices so we make sure we do it next time because it works."They (the emergency responders) are putting their training to the test," Nalesnik said. "This gives them experience in responding to incidents like this so if it happens for real, they are much better prepared."Werts and Nalesnik thanked Ametek for allowing the exercise to take place at the facility.The drill began just after 6 p.m., when an actor was overcome by fumes coming from a box truck in the loading dock area of Ametek.The call was made for hazmat teams and emergency responders to come to the scene.Minutes later, the three Nesquehoning fire companies, Nesquehoning police and ambulance, Carbon County EMA, Carbon County DECON Strike Team, Environmental Waste Minimization Inc. of Northampton, Hazardous Materials Special Operations Response Team, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and additional responders arrived on scene and began setting up in the parking area of Kovatch Plant 21.In addition, Aquashicola, Bowmanstown and Summit Hill fire companies responded to assist in the decontamination procedures.Once all hazmat areas were set up, including three decontamination stations, men dressed in hazmat suits assessed the situation around the truck and completed a number of tests to determine what hazardous material was inside.The teams then worked to alleviate the problem and bring order back to the work site.Following the drill, crews went back to Nesquehoning Hose Company for a debriefing and to discuss what worked well, and what should be changed.Nalesnik said the drill was made possible through the Northeast Pennsylvania Regional Counter Terrorism Task Force, which funded the event. Carbon County hosts smaller-scale drills multiple times a year to help emergency responders practice in case of an emergency.Adam Christmann, director of operations at A6A Associates, the firm hired to plan and oversee the scenario, said they handle all the logistics of the drill to set up the most realistic scenario and allow emergency responders to practice and prepare themselves for actual emergencies.