The Peachtree City Fire Department hones its skills by practicing nightmares.

Earlier this week, 27 department personnel firefighters, paramedics, EMTs and police answered what they thought was a "real" call to a domestic situation in which "the boyfriend got mad at his girlfriend, went to the house with a gun and then went ballistic on everybody," said Capt. Ed Eiswerth, operations officer.

Fortunately, the call was a drill, one of several conducted each year to prepare emergency personnel for anything they might actually face on duty. But the histrionics of the McIntosh High School Theater group, plus the realistic make-up used to create wounds, made it seem all too real, Eiswerth said.

Ten drama students portrayed the "victims," and the Peachtree City personnel called in Fayette County police aid, plus a "life-flight" helicopter. Eiswerth said the drill went well, but there are areas needing improvement.

The fire department conducts several training drills every year, coordinated through Eiswerth and training officer Capt. Tom Hughey. They have trained for hotel fires, train wrecks, plane crashes, hazardous chemical spills on the highway any scenario that would involve multiple victims and an all-out effort by emergency personnel to handle it, he added. By critiquing what happens in the drills, the department can then increase its preparation for "the real thing."

Eiswerth explained that volunteer firefighters also took part in the drill, and he felt that the exercise was particularly helpful to them. "Career staff," the paid persons, also learned a lot, he added.

Feriel Feldman, drama teacher at McIntosh High, said the students appreciated being a part of the drill. She said "it was a great improvisational experience for them, having to react appropriately to what's going on, even though you don't know what's coming." They work on improvisation in class, she said, but "working without a script" in an actual disaster simulation is a really good experience.