A mock chemical leak at the Sycamore Sewage Plant, which caused respiratory ailments to students at the nearby Sycamore Junior High School Saturday, was a simulated emergency drill sponsored by the DeKalb County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency.

The simulated drill went into effect at 8 a.m. when a truck at the sewage plant backed into a chlorine gas tank releasing the chemical gas. The driver of the truck also was injured in the accident.

There were winds blowing toward the northeast—in the direction of the school. Students at the school were affected with respiratory ailments caused by the chemical gas.

In order for Kishwaukee Community Hospital to comply with its requirement to conduct a drill, a traffic accident involving two cars also was simulated, ESDA Coordinator Jerry Lane said. The accident allowed the hospital to treat trauma victims as well as victims with respiratory problems, he said.

ose Krawczyk, public information representative for the DeKalb County ESDA, said there were more than 40 volunteers who played the roles of victims. The majority of the volunteers at the school site were Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops, Lane said.

The last field drill was conducted in DeKalb three years ago. Lane said the scene for the DeKalb drill was a bleacher which was simulated to collapse at NIU’s Huskie Stadium. Krawczyk said the drill enables ESDA to evaluate emergency agencies in disaster situations.

Evaluations of the agencies will not be completed for four to six weeks, Lane said. However, he said there were some communication problems during the drill. “We don’t have a base station for the fire department on our scanner. And the communication center upstairs (in the DeKalb County Public Safety Building) couldn’t reach the fire scene commander.”

e said coordination was the second biggest problem.

“Response times were good,” he said. Overall it was a successful drill, he added.

Lane said the fire departments were evaluated on incident command procedures, Kish and Sycamore Hospital were tested on their emergency medical procedures, and ESDA was tested on its emergency operation command post.

The medium realism drill was the first of three annual drills required by the federal government. One drill is required to be a field drill and the other two are table tops, Lane said. “They are low key, not realistic exercises. There will be a field exercise once a year from now on.”

A full realism drill lasts for up to two days, Lane said. There is also less simulation, he said. He added that the ESDA does not have the funds or enough volunteers to conduct a full realism drill.