WELLS — How would they react? Would their training and planning all come together to make for a smooth operation? What went well? What needed a tweak?

That was what first responders hoped to learn Saturday in a mock emergency, based on a supposed crash involving 50 patients on a school bus and a Pan Am Railways freight train.

The actors in the exercise, which was organized by York County Emergency Management Agency, along with Wells fire, rescue, dispatch and police departments, included some county government workers and students from firefighter and emergency medical programs at Sanford Regional Technical Center.

And along with the actors and first responders on scene at Spencer Drive in Wells, off Route 109, were teams of evaluators plus a contingent of students from Emerson College who were filming the event so participants could later review what had happened and critique their response. County-based hospitals in Biddeford, Sanford and York went through the exercise, too, as the mock “patients” arrived in ambulances from the scene.

North Berwick Fire Department Deputy Chief Larry Straffin was the chief controller at the scene in Wells, making sure everyone stuck to their role. Unbeknownst to the responders, Straffin said, there were some planned events, like an “injury” to the firefighter in charge of the team while removing the injured from the bus, designed to force the responders to improvise.

“It’s to gauge their reaction,” said Straffin, and determine how quickly the other responders were able to step in and continue the rescue operation.

The “collision” took place about 8:10 a.m. Shortly thereafter, Wells Police arrived, followed by a parade of ambulances. Those who could walk were assisted off the bus to a triage area, where they were examined, and firefighters and rescue personnel carried backboards and stretchers to the rear of the bus to remove those too injured to walk.

At about 9 a.m., Faith Mayer of the Maine Emergency Management Agency was waiting to see if environmental officials would arrive to check out the liquefied propane tank on the train or whether anyone would be examining the diesel fuel spill that took place during the “collision.”

“The response side of the exercise is good,” she said.

Ian MacMillan, of the New England Southern Railroad, a freight line that runs from Concord to Lincoln, New Hampshire, said exercises like the one in Wells Saturday are beneficial to everyone involved.

“It tests the limits of the” responders, he said.

Former Sanford Fire Chief Ray Parent was one of the evaluators. He said mock exercises are valuable.

“It’s very realistic,” he said of Saturday’s event.

The actors ”“ particularly the SRTC students ”“ were enthusiastic.

“I love this stuff,” said Dylan Leary of Berwick.

Lauren Deaderick, who works in community planning in Massachusetts, drove up from Boston with a friend to watch the exercise unfold. She said she found it intriguing.

“Who doesn’t want to see a full-scale incident,” she said.

Alexandra McNally of Kittery hopes to become an EMT, and so drove up to have a look.

“I thought this would be a good learning experience,” she said.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].