A major training exercise for local emergency crews took place all around Morden Wednesday night.

The Southern Emergency Response Committee (SERC) organized five separate disaster scenarios that could happen if a tornado had touched down in Morden. Morden police department, paramedics, four local fire departments, etc. were on alert for the various situations facing them.

"We designed this to be a complex scenario," said SERC emergency coordinator, Chris Kalansky.

The goal was to provide a challenge for first responders while also making the disaster sites realistic and believable. Kalansky praised the dedicated professionals saying they managed each situation thrown at them with strong teamwork.

"The four fire departments and other responders worked seamlessly to deal with all those different things at the same time," said Kalansky That was great to see. It was absolutely a seamless response."

Apart from the various scenes arranged by SERC to test the first responders, Boundary Trails Health Centre joined in the simulation.

Volunteer "victims" of the pretend tornado were taken to the emergency room at the hospital where they were organized into priority of care, a process called triage.

"By receiving an influx of casualties from an event, it allows [hospital staff] to practice placement, triage, [and] flow," said Larry Skoglund, disaster management officer with Southern Health/Santé Sud.

"We're not looking so much at treatment as opposed to flow and placement of casualties as they come in; "Where do we put them? How do we manage the current situation?"

Skoglund was impressed with how the staff dealt with the pretend emergency, specifically with the communication inside the hospital.

The next mock disaster will wait another four to six months while Kalansky and the rest of SERC plans and arranges new challenges for local emergency crews.